From: bala@ulysses.att.com (Bala Krishnamurthy)
Subject: Investigators Suspect Pilot Error in Jet Crash
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1993 04:12:03 GMT
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill
Keywords: IA Crash Pilot Error

apnews reports:
	   NEW DELHI, India (AP) _ Investigators suspect pilot error in the
crash of an Indian Airlines jet Saturday, said an aviation official
who attributed the survival of all 163 people aboard to the
Soviet-built craft's sturdiness.
	   The Tupolev-154 jet crashed three hours before dawn while
landing in heavy fog at Indira Gandhi International Airport. It
broke up and overturned, but all aboard jumped to safety before
flames engulfed the craft.
	   Six people were hospitalized with injuries. Civil Aviation
Minister Madhav Rao Scindia resigned to accept moral responsibility
for the crash.
	   The flight from Hyderabad, 1,000 miles south of New Delhi, was
carrying 152 passengers, including two naturalized U.S. citizens,
and 11 crew. The jet was leased from Uzbek Airlines to break a
month-old strike by more than 400 Indian Airlines pilots.
	   M.S. Rana, a former air force pilot with the Civil Aviation
Ministry, quoted investigators as saying that the plane's pilot, an
Uzbek, ignored orders from air traffic controllers not to land
because of the fog.
	   He said the pilot apparently was tired and did not want to fly
to another airport. The crash was because of ``pure pilot error,''
Rana said.
	   Many pilots are working extra hours to make up for the shortage
of pilots and keep flights running.
	   He said attributed the survival of all aboard to the sturdiness
of Russian airplanes. ``If it was another plane it would have
overturned and collapsed and everybody would have burned to
death,'' he said.
	   However, Ganiy Rafikov, general director of Uzbekistan Yullari
airlines, told the Moscow-based ITAR-Tass news agency that the
accident ``cannot put in question the pilots' professionalism.''
	   Rafikov said the plane's pilot, Erkin Aripov, had obtained
permission to land, but in the fog lost visual contact with the
ground. ``It was essentially impossible to carry out the landing
without a mistake,'' he said.
	   Officials said the pilot was off course in his approach to the
runway and hit a group of lights to the right of the airstrip.
	   It skidded on slushy grass along the runway for about 3,000
feet, veered onto the asphalt and overturned, a senior airline
official said on condition of anonymity.
	   The right wing was sheared and was lying 100 yards from the
fuselage. The tail, where the engines were fixed, was torn and the
body was broken in two.
	   ``We landed somewhat heavily, then landed again,'' said Leona
Anderson, of Calgary, Canada. ``Then we slipped over and I was
hanging upside down. It was absolutely dark. People fell on top of
me. We were knee-deep in luggage.''
	   ``The fog was so bad that we couldn't see the plane, even though
it was burning,'' Mrs. Anderson said.
	   Birinder Raj Singh, a government official on the flight, said
flames spread throughout the wreckage minutes after the passengers
ran for safety.
	   Indian Airlines' pilots have been on strike since Dec. 10
demanding higher pay. The plane was one of six leased from Uzbek
Airlines.
	   The pilots' union had said Tupolev aircraft were unsafe, and
accused the airline of putting passengers at risk in order to break
the strike. The airline said the planes were inspected before they
were used in India.
	   Indian Airlines has had three fatal air crashes since 1989.

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