China Airlines pilot says he was made a scapegoat in 1999 accident report

Airline Industry Information, Feb 7, 2005

AIRLINE INDUSTRY INFORMATION-(C)1997-2005 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

The pilot of an Air China aircraft that flipped over during arrival at Hong Kong in 1999 blames the aircraft for the accident.

The pilot also claims that politics is behind the report by the Civil Aviation Department in Hong Kong that puts the blame on pilot error for the accident. The pilot, Gerardo Lettich, told the South China Morning Post that there is a problem with the Boeing MD-11 he was flying at the time, and that any pilot would be able to confirm that claim. He also said that he was made a scapegoat because no one was willing to blame Boeing.

China Airlines, based in Taiwan, has one of the worst safety records in the world with ten fatal crashes since 1970, The Associated Press reported. Mark Hooper, a Hong Kong-based spokesman for Boeing Co, has only said that his company defers to the government report and does not want to further comment on the matter.

The aircraft turned while landing in Hong Kong and burst into flames. Three persons were killed and 50 seriously injured when the MD-11, arriving from Bangkok, descended too fast while trying to land during a tropical storm. The aircraft was carrying about 300 passengers as well as crew.

The report said that the cause of the accident was the failure to stop the high rate of descent, and the aircraft tilted to the right as it landed. The right wing clipped the runway and the fuel tank in the wing was ruptured.

China Airlines has said that the report's conclusion was unacceptable and that there was plenty of factual evidence for the weather being the primary cause of the accident, The Associated Press reported. The airline, based in Taiwan, said that there was not enough time for the pilot to react to changing weather conditions and that the findings showed that both wind direction and wind speed changed dramatically 1.5 seconds before landing.

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