Nando Times

Gulf Air pilot failed to slow plane, investigators say by ADNAN MALIK, Associated Press

MANAMA, Bahrain (September 4, 2000 8:05 p.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com)

- The pilot of a Gulf Air plane that crashed into the sea off Bahrain, killing all 143 people aboard, failed to gain altitude or slow down during his landing attempts, investigators said Monday.

The pilot had been warned by his co-pilot and cockpit alarms that the plane was moving too fast for its altitude.

The actions described by investigators indicated the crew was having trouble controlling the plane and that it appeared to have accelerated rather than reduced speed after the warnings, problems that could be attributed to the control systems, the crew's abilities or a combination of both, according to Jim Burnett, a U.S. aviation expert not involved in the probe.

Frank Hilldrup, a U.S. National Transportation Safety Board expert who was appointed by Bahrain as chief investigator into the Aug. 23 crash, told reporters Monday night that it was too early to say pilot error caused the Airbus 320 to nosedive into shallow Gulf waters.

Hilldrup, citing information from the flight data and cockpit voice recorders that were analyzed by the NTSB in Washington, laid out the final few minutes of Flight 072. He said Air Traffic Control at the Bahrain International Airport told Capt. Ihsan Shakeeb to, "climb 2,500 feet" after the pilot called off his initial landing approach and requested a go-around.

After Shakeeb's second aborted attempt to land, Hilldrup said "the first officer stated `over speed limit."'

Within seconds, the flight data recorder indicated forward movement of the "Captain's Side Stick," Hilldrup said, which put the aircraft into a rapid descent. The plane's speed increased beyond 212 mph at 1,000 feet, setting off the continuous chiming of the aircraft's Master Warning system, Hilldrup explained.

Soon, a ground-proximity alarm went off that Hilldrup said gave a warning of "whoop-whoop, pull up" - an indication the plane was in acute danger. The pilot, he said, tried to increase altitude by pulling back on the stick, but Hilldrup said the "pull up" warning lasted to the end of the recording.

The plane's last recorded speed was about 322 mph, Hilldrup said. Because of varying factors such as air conditions, and the plane's weight and size, authorities would not say what a proper landing approach speed would be.

"The entire data is still viewed as preliminary," he said. "It will take time to validate this data....We don't want to prejudge things."

The boxes, Hilldrup said, also showed that Shakeeb was the pilot flying the aircraft, that the autopilot was disconnected on final approach and that the remainder of the flight was flown manually.

Ibrahim al-Hamer, Bahrain's Undersecretary for Civil Aviation who serves as chairman of the investigating committee of which Hilldrup is a key member, said "it is premature from our side to express opinions on this case." However, he said that air traffic controllers had done their job and it is "the pilot's responsibility" to safely land the plane.

Neither Hilldrup nor al-Hamer would comment on the crew's last words; a transcript of the voice cockpit recording was not released and investigators said they were still working on precise timings based on the information contained in the recorders.

Burnett, an aviation expert reached by The Associated Press in Little Rock, Ark., said that "the whole scenario indicates that the crew were having difficulty controlling the airplane."

"Whether that arises from control systems or the training of the crew I don't know, but it could be a combination of both," Burnett, a former NTSB chairman, said in a telephone interview.

Forward movement of the Captain's Side Stick would point the nose of the plane down, he said, adding that "pitching the plane nose down tends to only increase the speed rather than decrease it."

Meanwhile on Monday, about 250 Bahraini Coast Guard divers with nine boats continued their sweep of the crash site for parts of the plane and personal effects. "We are still bringing considerable amount of pieces of the plane," Bahrain's Civil Defense Chief Col. James Windsor said.

Divers brought in part of the plane's fuselage and one wheel of the nose undercarriage. Some personal effects, including jewelry and clothes of the victims, also were retrieved.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), September 04, 2000