KENYA/FILE: Kenya Airways Cameroon crash blamed on pilot actions

Record ID: 361927

  • Title: KENYA/FILE: Kenya Airways Cameroon crash blamed on pilot actions
  • Date: 28th April 2010
  • Summary: NAIROBI, KENYA (APRIL 28, 2010) (REUTERS) WIDE VIEW OF NEWS CONFERENCE CAMERA OPERATOR AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) TITUS NAIKUNI, KENYA AIRWAYS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER (CEO), SAYING: "It was not a must that the Cameroonian authorities, that the investigative team, that they would take all our positions in the report. In the end, we have perhaps two or th
  • Embargoed: 13th May 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVADSSE1W65LLTGXOX7NORONM7Q5
  • Story Text: Kenya Airways officials said on Wednesday (April 28) the airline has reservations about a report stating that one of its jet's crashed in Cameroon due to pilot error.
    The Boeing 737-800 airliner plunged into a mangrove swamp on a stormy night in May 2007, minutes after taking off from Douala en route to Nairobi. All 114 people on board died in the crash.
    The crash report, compiled by the Cameroonian Civil Aviation Authority, found the pilot failed to notice the aircraft was banking slowly to the right as it gained altitude.
    Titus Naikuni, the head of Kenya Airways, told reporters at a news conference in Nairobi that the company and the Cameroonian authorities disagreed on certain points in the report.
    "It was not a must that the Cameroonian authorities, that the investigative team, that they would take all our positions in the report. In the end, we have perhaps two or three different positions within the report which I would like my colleagues to comment on. One is to do with the auto pilot section, CRM (Crew Resources Management) and safety programme implementation within KQ," said Naikuni, referring to the official airline code for Kenya Airways (KQ).
    The airline, which is 26 percent owned by Air France-KLM, said it had reservations over the report's findings that the pilot had not properly engaged the autopilot after take off.
    Captain Stuart Hutchinson, 737 Fleet Manager for Kenya Airways, said the report did not accurately reflect the company's training programme.
    "The emphasis has been placed in the wrong area. In terms of CRM, we do have training - a CRM training programme is a requirement for pilots to undergo every two years and this is done religiously. And, in terms of, rather ... there is an anomaly in the report that suggests that first officer did not go through the CRM training course which is not the fact," Hutchinson said.
    "Pretty much all the issues raised in the report about the auto pilot engagement criteria are not specific to how we operate," he added.
    The report also said the Boeing flight manual did not include full information on the ability of the aircraft's autopilot to roll the airplane to a safe degree of banking from a dangerous level.
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