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Air crash navigator was 'lightly drunk'
Source: Agencies |
September 20, 2011, Tuesday
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THE carelessness of a "lightly" drunken navigator contributed to a plane crash that killed 47 people in Russia in June, investigators said in a report released yesterday.
The Tu-134 jet ploughed into treetops, overturned and slammed into the ground while trying to land in fog at the airport in the northern city of Petrozavodsk, the first in a string of Russian air accidents that have occurred in recent months.
The Interstate Aviation Committee said the plane crashed because the crew had failed to abort the landing even though the pilot could not see markers on the ground.
That error followed others made by crew members, including the 50-year-old navigator who "conducted the flight in a state of light alcoholic intoxication," the report said.
He had a blood alcohol content of 0.081 percent, it said - just over the legal limit for driving in Britain.
The 45-year-old pilot was inclined to trust his longer-serving navigator, who had 25 years' experience and more than 13,000 hours on Tu-134 flights, said the committee, which serves several ex-Soviet republics.
The cockpit recording showed that the navigator displayed "heightened activity" in guiding the pilot's actions before the crash, saying: "Turn it faster, come on!" and assuring him: "I'll bring you in just right."
He failed to tell the pilot to search for markers and then failed to warn him that he must decide whether to land or pull up, the report said.
Five people aboard survived.
Two Antonov An-12 planes crashed in July and August, killing 18 people. On September 7 a Yak-42 jet crashed after takeoff from Yaroslavl, killing 44 of the 45 people aboard.
The Tu-134 jet ploughed into treetops, overturned and slammed into the ground while trying to land in fog at the airport in the northern city of Petrozavodsk, the first in a string of Russian air accidents that have occurred in recent months.
The Interstate Aviation Committee said the plane crashed because the crew had failed to abort the landing even though the pilot could not see markers on the ground.
That error followed others made by crew members, including the 50-year-old navigator who "conducted the flight in a state of light alcoholic intoxication," the report said.
He had a blood alcohol content of 0.081 percent, it said - just over the legal limit for driving in Britain.
The 45-year-old pilot was inclined to trust his longer-serving navigator, who had 25 years' experience and more than 13,000 hours on Tu-134 flights, said the committee, which serves several ex-Soviet republics.
The cockpit recording showed that the navigator displayed "heightened activity" in guiding the pilot's actions before the crash, saying: "Turn it faster, come on!" and assuring him: "I'll bring you in just right."
He failed to tell the pilot to search for markers and then failed to warn him that he must decide whether to land or pull up, the report said.
Five people aboard survived.
Two Antonov An-12 planes crashed in July and August, killing 18 people. On September 7 a Yak-42 jet crashed after takeoff from Yaroslavl, killing 44 of the 45 people aboard.
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