airplane accident in Phuket

[..]

None at all, all passenger/commercial ATC is done in English worldwide AFAIK.

 

Just referring to the nature of Thais to heap the blame on anyone who is not Thai...

 

Regards,

SD

[saucier01]

im curious to hear what is determined as the cause of the crash.

 

i've had a few hairy landings in phuket. the damn low spot about of a third of the way down the runway always scares the crap out of me.

[shygye]

None at all, all passenger/commercial ATC is done in English worldwide AFAIK.

 

Just referring to the nature of Thais to heap the blame on anyone who is not Thai...

 

Regards,

SD

 

ATC may also be done in the local language. In France ATC is done in French or English.

[Flashermac]

Bangkok Post

19 September

 

Wind shear alert was down;

Officials say system not crucial for landing

 

 

Systems to detect dangerous winds at Phuket international airport have emerged as a new factor possibly linked to the horrendous crash of the One-Two-Go flight on Sunday.

 

Wuttichai Singmanee, director of air safety at the Civil Aviation Department, said three of the six wind shear alert systems at the airport had problems.

 

"Three out of six low-level wind shear alert systems were not working at the time," Mr Wuttichai said in a report by the AP.

 

An official at Phuket airport who declined to be named told the Bangkok Post that the system run by the Meteorological Department had not functioned for months.

 

The systems detect sudden strong winds, also known as wind shear, which could cause trouble for a plane landing at the airport.

 

Officials responsible for the system would normally alert air traffic controllers to warn pilots about the situation on the ground.

 

These systems are installed at all international airports in Thailand. They are located in areas around the airport.

 

With investigators still trying to determine the cause of the tragedy, it was unclear yesterday whether the accident, which left 89 people dead and 41 injured, was due to pilot error or weather conditions.

 

But Mr Wuttichai said even though the wind shear detection system was not fully functional, this would not necessarily lead to an accident.

 

The airport at Phuket was also equipped with its own, separate wind detecting system and could inform incoming and outgoing planes of the situation, the official said.

 

"The wind shear alert system is not a requirement for an international aviation standard," he said.

 

A pilot of Thai Airways International (THAI), who asked not to be named, agreed with Mr Wuttichai, saying the wind shear detection system was not crucial for landing or take-off.

 

Most passenger aircraft nowadays were equipped with their own wind detection equipment, which the pilot could refer to, he said.

 

Transport permanent secretary Chaisawat Kittipornpaiboon, who is heading the inquiry into the disaster, said wind shear had not been ruled out and it had been the cause of several major airline accidents.

 

Transport and aviation authorities yesterday appealed to the public not to point the finger at Arief Mulyadi, the chief pilot on the fatal flight.

 

Chaisak Ungsuwan, director-general of the Civil Aviation Department, said no judgement should be passed before the information on the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder had been analysed.

 

The recorders, which were retrieved from the wreckage of the plane, were being sent to the United States for analysis, he said. The McDonnell Douglas MD-82 was made in the US.

 

"I do not want to see any blame heaped on the pilot or any other party involved because it is not fair. We should wait for the results of the examination of the data recorders," said Mr Chaisak.

 

Khajit Hapnanont, chief executive officer of One-Two-Go Airlines, echoed the appeal. He insisted the airline's safety was not lax and that Mr Mulyadi was one of the company's best.

 

Mr Chaisak, quoting a recorded conversation between the pilot and the flight tower, said flight OG 269 requested landing permission and inquired about weather and wind speed about four minutes after an aircraft owned by Orient Thai Airlines, which owns One-Two-Go, landed safely.

 

He said flight OG 269 also acknowledged that wind shear had been reported by the other plane before asking for landing approval.

 

Khanit Promsathit, a THAI pilot, said Phuket airport is a difficult place to land especially at night or in bad weather.

 

Two critically injured passengers were yesterday flown to a hospital in Bangkok for intensive burn treatment.

 

Phuket public health office chief Wanchai Sattayawuthiwong said Chainarong Maharae, 38, chief of Bang Muang tambon administration organisation in Phangnga and Ms Bethan Jones, 22, a Briton, sustained 40-60% burns and were transferred to a Bangkok hospital.

 

Pol Col Pornprasert Kanjanarin, deputy chief of the Foreign Affairs Division, said 36 bodies of Thai victims had been claimed by relatives.

 

Forensic officials had identified 20 out of the 53 foreigners killed.

 

 

 

[Torneyboy]

Heavy rain and wind ..going by the newspapers

[..]

ATC may also be done in the local language. In France ATC is done in French or English.

Just looked it up. English is a requirement for ATC, and the default; but can also use any language that both parties understand.

 

Cheers,

SD

[MooNoi]

There is more to that than that!!

My friend was the captain on that flight

 

Well, he ain't the captain of any Qantas flights now!

[MooNoi]

He can't......it would take more than one or two sentences

 

13,335 posts of :neener:'s

[Flashermac]

For what it is worth

[trooper]

That's the letter I was refereing to in my post. If that's genuine it tells very sad truth about today's companies. I bet 1-2-Go isn't the only budget airline that operates like this.