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Black box points finger at pilot

Pilot error is seen as the probable cause of the crash of Alliance Air Boeing 737-200 on July 17 at Patna if the readouts of the Cockpit Voice Recorder and the Solid State Flight Data Recorder, which together constitute the black box, are any indication.

The plane had 'probably stalled' leading it to crash on a row of government houses, three kilometres short of Patna airport, airline sources and investigators probing the accident said in Bombay on Sunday.

The 'stick shaker warning', which sounds the warning before the stall, has been recorded in the CVR a few seconds before the crash, they said.

"Oh noooo.." were the last words recorded in the CVR one second before the crash. The identity of the voice, whether it is that of the commander captain M S Sohan Pal or that of co-pilot captain A S Bagga, is not yet known, a source said.

The court of inquiry headed by Air Marshall P Raj Kumar, which begins a public hearing at Patna on Monday, carried out a simulated exercise on August 28 at the Indian Airlines Central Training Establishment at Hyderabad with the data available from the SFDR of the ill-fated flight.

The result showed that the plane, which was on a flight from Calcutta to Delhi via Patna and Lucknow, had 'probably stalled' leading to the accident.

The SFDR keeps track of eleven parameters, which include the flight profile, speed, rate of climb and descend, heading, roll rate (turning) and engine power settings.

The SFDR readout indicated that the engines were pushed to full power perhaps moments before the stall while the landing gear was in the retracted position and the flaps were in partly extended position, the sources said.

According to pilots, it normally takes six to eight seconds for the engine to 'spool up' (deliver power), but it was too late.

Sohan Pal and Bagga were batchmates. Bagga had completed his command training and the director general of civil aviation had approved of him as pilot-in-command.

Investigators feel that, in all probability, Bagga was flying the aircraft as taped conversation with the Air Traffic Control indicated that Sohan Pal was on R-T (Radio Telephone) contact with the ATC.

According to pilots, normally a pilot who is not flying handles the RT and this led to the conjecture that Bagga could be flying, which, however, has to be proved by the court of enquiry.

Eyewitnesses' account of not only the aircraft in flight before the crash but also the role of safety and rescue services after the crash are expected to be made available to the court of inquiry.

PTI

See full coverage of the Alliance Air crash

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