Mangalore : Pilot ‘error’ Under Scanner
Mangalore, May 24 (DHNS): A possible pilot''error'' is being sought to be explained by the country’s aviation security agency as the primary factor behind Saturday’s disastrous crash of Air India Express flight IX-812 at Mangalore.
Even as the crucial black box continues to elude the search team, preliminary investigation by a court of inquiry under the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has found that the ill-fated Boeing 737-800 aircraft was not on a proper glide path.
This could have led the plane to overshoot the runway, causing the pilot to lose control and crashing the aircraft, killing 158 passengers and crew members, Civil Aviation Ministry sources said.
Search of the crash vicinity yielded the cockpit voice recorder, which would provide vital clues about what transpired between the pilot and Air Traffic Control (ATC) just before the plane crash-landed. Mangalore airport sources indicated there could be only two possibilities of the crash––errors pilot Zlatko Gluscia may have committed or a technical glitch at the ATC tower.
Airport sources told Deccan Herald that since Mangalore airport is equipped with one of two kinds of instrument landing systems (ILS)––Category 1, by which the pilot must take control of the flight when 800 metres are left for touchdown––it is possible that Glusica took control just before landing but ignored ATC suggestions or warnings at the moment when he overshot the runway. The probe team, which is studying the records stored at the air traffic control (ATC) tower, is inquiring into a possible lapse on the part of the controllers.
Ministry officials admitted that the ATC at the Mangalore airport could have warned Glusica when it noticed that he would surely overshoot the landing threshold. The probe will take into account the possibility of contradictory information that might have been fed to the computer system either in the ATC or the cockpit.
The officials also admitted that the error could have happened when the aircraft was on a fairly high altitude but later failed to align itself on the glide path.
“After sensing that the touchdown went wrong, the pilot must have applied emergency brakes that led to a burst tyre, forcing the plane off the runway and hitting the ILS facility,” sources said.
Such approach radars, with which airports in Mumbai and Delhi are equipped with, generally monitor approaching aircraft over long distances till they establishes contact with the ILS.
If an approaching aircraft fails to align with the glide path, the controllers manning the ATC can correct the pilot’s error and guide him to follow the precise flight path.
Glide path error may have caused air crash
In the absence of an approach radar at Mangalore airport, the pilot might have made his own judgment after contacting with the ATC and locking with the ILS.
Although it has been reported that there was radio contact between the pilot and the ATC about 10 miles before touchdown and that landing clearance was given when the aircraft was about 4 miles away, aviation officials suspect “something amiss”.
They are not ruling out another contributory factor –– a sudden tailwind that could have “pushed” the aircraft, flying at high speed, forward, leading to loss of control on the part of the pilot. While the cockpit voice recorder will surely throw some light on what went wrong, the investigators will focus on warning systems within the aircraft and at the ATC.
Vital gadgets
Flight data recorder
Black box or flight data recorder, mounted in the tail of an aircraft, is considered the most crash-survivable part. It is one of the most important gadgets used to reconstruct the events leading to a crash.
Black box is a misnomer as its colour is orange. This is done for easier location after a crash. It is enclosed in steel and surrounded by multiple layers of insulation so that it remains protected against crash, fire and extreme climatic conditions.
It records the actual flight conditions, including altitude, airspeed, heading, vertical acceleration and aircraft pitch.
David Warren of Aeronautical Research Laboratories in Melbourne, Australia, is credited with the invention of the black box in 1953.
Cockpit voice recorder
Cockpit voice recorder records radio transmissions and sounds in the cockpit, such as the pilots’ voices and engine noises.
The recorder’s microphone is usually found on the overhead instrument panel between the two pilot seats.
Sounds of interest captured on the recorder are engine noise, stall warnings, landing gear extension and retraction, crew conversation, communications with air traffic control, automated radio weather briefings, any other abnormal noise.
From these sounds, parameters such as engine rpm, speed, system failures and the time at which these events occurred can then often be determined.
'May the beautiful angels guard you’
For 53-year-old Zlatko Glusica, the Serbian pilot of Flight IX-812, fate took a deathly turn Saturday morning. What seemed like a routine exercise when he started to commandeer the Air India Express Boeing in Dubai, turned out to be his last flight. But he had reached another destination.
The pilot lost his life along with 158 passengers onboard after he missed the "landing threshold" on the Mangalore airport runway, plunging into the valley of death.
Some experts are blaming fatigue and overwork while others are accusing the pilot of error and miscalculation for the disaster. Glusica had adopted -- as his hometown in the United Kingdom where he lived with a family of four -- his wife Ana, and children Merima, Aleksander and Dunja, who also have accounts on the social networking site Facebook.
Zlatko joined Air India Express as a pilot in October 2008, eight months after the Boeing 737-800 aircraft was inducted into the carrier’s fleet. He began flying with JAT, the one-time Yugoslavian airliner, in 1979.
Among his 71 friends are several from the Glusica clan, most of them from Zaltko’s native Serbia. As news of the crash and Zlatko’s untimely death travelled to the farthest corners of the world, moving condolences poured in as messages from his friends and relatives on his Facebook “wall”.
Most of his kin are shell-shocked by the news.They can't believe that their friend is no more. Tahil Filopovic wrote "I can't believe it! You'll be missed as a great friend and pilot. God bless your soul."
An alumnus of the JAT flying academy located in the outskirts of Vrsac in Serbia, Glusica has a flying has had flying experience of over 30 years. His friends feel that the mishap was definitely not his fault. They believe he was an extremely dedicated pilot who knew his work but are sad that his passion for flying took his life. Bosiljka Glusica wrote: "You dedicated your entire life to your career but now your job took your life."
Damir Sosic, another friend says that his absence will always be felt. "It is just that your body that has left us. Ur spirit shall always live with us," he posted. Condolences poured in for the pilot's family as well. Branka Grmas wrote: "Sincere condolences to the family Glusica."
Another friend Branka Jovonovic posted: "May the beautiful angels guard you as you are also an angel."
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