Pilot error caused Alliance Air plane crash?

MUMBAI, SEPT. 3. Pilot error is seen as the probable cause of the crash of the Alliance Air Boeing 737-200 on July 17 at Patna if the readouts of the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and the solid state flight data recorder (SFDR), which together constitute the ``black box'', are any indication.

The Boeing ``probably stalled'' causing it to crash into a row of government houses, three km short of Patna airport, killing nearly 60 people, including the crew and some on the ground, airline sources and investigators probing the accident told PTI here today.

The ``stick shaker warning'', which sounds the warning before the stall, was recorded in the CVR a few seconds before the crash, they said. ``Oh nooo...,'' were the last words recorded in the CVR a second before the crash. The identity of the voice, whether it is that of Captain M. S. Sohan Pal, commander, or that of Captain A. S. Bagga, co-pilot, was not yet known.

The court of inquiry headed by Air Marshal P. Raj Kumar, which begins a public hearing in Patna tomorrow, carried out a simulated exercise on August 28 at the Indian Airlines central training establishment in Hyderabad from the relevant data of the SFDR of the ill-fated flight. The result showed that the Boeing, on a flight from Calcutta to Delhi via Patna and Lucknow, ``probably stalled'' leading to the accident.

The SFDR has 11 parameters which include the flight profile, speed, rate of climb and descend, heading, roll rate (turning) and engine power settings. The SFDR readout indicated that the engines were pushed to full power perhaps moments before the plane stalled while the landing gear was in the retracted position and the flaps were in partly extended position, the sources said.

According to pilots, it normally takes six to eight seconds to ``spool up'' (power) for the engine but it was too late.

Both Captain Sohan Pal and Captain Bagga were batchmates and Capt. Bagga had completed his command training and was released by the Director-General of Civil Aviation as pilot-in-command. But his release was delayed by the operator as he had not been given sufficient monsoon flying experience as required by the regulatory body.

In all probability, investigators feel, Capt. Bagga was flying the aircraft as taped conversation with the Air Traffic Control indicated that Capt. Sohan Pal was in contact with the ATC over the radio telephone.

According to pilots, normally a pilot not flying handles the RT and this led to the conjecture that Capt. Bagga was flying which, however, has to be proved by the court of inquiry.

Eyewitnesses' account of not only the aircraft in flight before the crash but also the role of safety and rescue services after the crash are expected to be made available to the court of inquiry.

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