Aviation crashes caused by pilots and their mistakes in the cockpit
AS pilot error is being explored as a possible cause of the Emirates plane crash in Dubai, we look at other accidents caused by those in the cockpit.
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PILOT error is being explored as a possible cause of the Emirates flight EK521 plane crash which burst into flames after making an emergency landing on Dubai’s International airport runway.
As questions loom over why the control tower had to remind the pilots to lower the landing gear on their first runway approach, we take a look at other pilot errors that have resulted in crashes.
TransAsia Flight 235 — 2015
Shortly after its takeoff from Taipei Songshan Airport on February 6th, 2015, one of TransAsia Flight 235’s engines experienced a flameout. As an aircraft is able to fly with just one engine, the pilot shut off the engine — or so he thought. Instead, he accidentally shut off the correctly functioning one and left the plane powerless, at which point he unsuccessfully tried to restart both engines. The plane then clipped a bridge and plummeted into a Taiwanese river as the pilot desperately tried to avoid city terrain, killing 37 of the 53 on-board.
AirAsia Flight QZ8501 — 2014
The Airbus A320-200 left Surabaya, east Java bound for Singapore when it crashed into the Java Sea.
Searchers eventually found the wreckage and were able to retrieve some of the bodies on board, all 162 passengers and crew died.
An extensive investigation found pilot error was to blame for the crash when they broke protocol by pulling circuit-breakers on part of the aircraft’s control system which turned off the autopilot.
AirAsia Indonesia later announced that the airliner had upgraded pilot training and enhanced safety standards after the release of the report.
Asiana Airlines Flight 214 — 2013
While automated systems have made flying safer, the crash of Asiana 214 sparked an international debate on the danger of over-reliance on these systems. The flight was from Incheon International Airport near Seoul, South Korea, to San Francisco International Airport. During the plane’s final approach, the pilot made a crucial error by selecting an inappropriate autopilot sequence. The plane’s speed decreased too rapidly and the flight crew failed to notice it would touch down short of the runway. Three passengers died, and one hundred and eighty one were injured.
Polish Air Force Tu-154 — 2010
On 10 April 2010, a Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft of the Polish Air Force crashed near the city of Smolensk, Russia, killing all 96 people on board. Among the victims were the President of Poland Lech Kaczyński and his wife Maria, the former President of Poland in exile Ryszard Kaczorowski, and other high profile Polish officials and relatives of victims of the Katyn massacre. The group was arriving from Warsaw to attend an event marking the 70th anniversary of the massacre, which took place not far from Smolensk.
The pilots were attempting to land at Smolensk North Airport — a former military airbase — in thick fog, with visibility reduced to about 500 metres. The aircraft descended well below the normal approach path and hit trees, rolled and crashed into the ground coming to rest in a wooded area a short distance from the runway.
Both the Russian and Polish official investigations concluded that the crew failed to conduct the approach in a safe manner in the given weather conditions.
American Airlines Flight 587 — 2001
Taking place just two months after the 9/11 attacks, many people initially feared the crash of American Airlines 587 was another terrorist attack.
The passenger flight from John F. Kennedy airport en route to Santo Domingo’s Las Americas International airport in the Dominican Republic went down over a neighbourhood in Queens, NY, crashing into five homes.
The National Transportation Safety Board determined the cause of the accident to be overuse of rudder controls in response to heavy turbulence. All two hundred and sixty aboard perished, along with five others on the ground.
Air France Flight AF447 — 2009
While the captain of Air France flight AF447 from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Paris, France took a break, the plane’s autopilot suddenly disengaged and the co-pilot began receiving inconsistent readings for a few minutes — indicating that there was an issue with the plane’s speed sensors which were blocked by ice. After waking the pilot from his sleep, the co-pilot remained at the controls and raised the angle of the plane’s climb until it stalled three times and finally fell into the ocean, killing all on-board. The crash was blamed on the co-pilot’s choice to tilt the plane upwards as a response to the issue.
KLM Flight 4805 and Pan Am Flight 1736 — 1977
Commonly referred to as the Tenerife Airport Disaster, flights KLM 4805 and Pan Am 1736 collided on a runway in the Canary Islands in 1977 after pilot miscommunication with radio traffic control. Due to an overcrowding of planes on the runway following a bomb explosion at a nearby airport and heavy fog, air traffic controllers were having a hard time keeping the runway organised, let alone being able to see it. From the tower, nobody was able to see that the Pan AM and KLM flights were sitting on the same runway. The pilot of the KLM flight misinterpreted a radio traffic controller’s muffled “OK” and assumed he was clear for takeoff, instead of asking the controller to clarify. The flight then geared for take off and crashed directly into the Pan AM flight sitting on the runway. A total of 583 people were killed making it the deadliest crash in aviation history.
Originally published as Aviation crashes caused by pilots and their mistakes in the cockpit
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