PETALING JAYA: This was a tragedy that could have been avoided, says aviation expert Major Dr Mohd Harridon Mohamed Suffian, referring to the crash involving a private jet in Shah Alam in August last year that killed 10 people.
The final Air Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) report released yesterday revealed that the accident was primarily caused by human error by the flight crew through the inadvertent extension of lift dump spoilers while performing the “Before Landing” checklist.
“The lift dump spoiler acts as a retardant to reduce the speed of the aircraft and in parallel, decreases its altitude.
“The spoiler is usually deployed during the landing phase of the aircraft but it must be deployed in an optimal manner and time to avoid any anomaly in the trajectory of the aircraft.
“Pilots are trained to actuate the spoilers in accordance with flight protocols. Countless hours are spent on improving their proficiency,” he told The Star yesterday.
The report, he said, also indicated that the second-in-command was not familiar with the inherent risk related to the deployment of spoilers.
The flight crew should have been vigilant with regard to the technicalities and risks related to aircraft functionalities, said Mohd Harridon.
“The crash investigation was conducted in accordance with Annex 13 of the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation), which does not apportion blame to designated parties.
“Rather, the investigation was carried out to improve the safety and alleviate the aviation sector in a holistic fashion,” he said, adding that training would now evolve to mitigate any future incidents.
The final report also mentioned the anomaly in the seating arrangement of the pilot in charge and second-in-command, which hindered Crew Resource Management (CRM), said Mohd Harridon.In CRM, certain stipulated protocols are there to create “a sterile and effective ecosystem” during flight and, in the spirit of Annex 13, there would be recommendations for the scenario in the cockpit to be more disciplined, he added.
Separately, Mohd Harridon said there was also an issue with regard to the compensation from the insurance company since the bulk of the cause was skewed towards members of the crew.
This raises the question of whether the next-of-kin of victims can receive any payment from the insurance agreement.
Former Air New Zealand aircraft performance engineer Jonathan Clark said non-scheduled flights are more dangerous than scheduled services, which have the advantage of repeatability, leading to an effect akin to “muscle memory”.Scheduled services, just like driving a car, have certain subconscious routines.
“The last thing anyone wants is to have a critical time during the flight when you are operating consciously, which is what happens with chartered flights.”
Clark said such accidents happen more frequently among non-scheduled flights.
