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'Pilots unaware of faulty meter'

Monday 09 March 2009

The pilots of the Turkish Airlines Boeing 737 that crashed close to Schiphol airport 12 days ago killing nine people were probably unaware that the plane’s altitude meter was defect, according to the general secretary of Aircraft Engineers International in Monday’s Volkskrant.

Fred Bruggeman says the problem with the meter was not mentioned in the aircraft’s logbook.

Last week a preliminary report by accident investigators said the faulty meter probably caused the crash.

On Saturday some 700 people attended a memorial service at a hangar at Schiphol Oost for those who died in the crash on February 25 and Schiphol airport observed a two minutes silence at noon.

Nine people are still in hospital, one in a critical condition.

The wreckage of the Turkish Airlines plane is to be cleared away this week.

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Faulty meter probably led to plane crash

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Readers' comments

If the problem with the faulty altimeter was not written up in the TA-aircrafts log and the pilots were not aware of the faulty meter during the flight, TAs are at fault altogether.
Richard Penrhyn-Lowe
Canada

By richard penrhyn-lowe | March 9, 2009 6:35 PM

I'm inclined to say, of course they were unaware of the problem!
Because if they had been aware of it, wouldn't they have attempted to correct it by flying at a higher altitude?

By Keith Beker | March 10, 2009 3:41 AM

To Richard Penrhyn-Lowe, I am afraid things sometimes break down and sometimes it does even if everything is being done right. Just to blame TA whatever the findings are is not the right attitude.Clearly, if TA or the pilots were aware of the situation they would have done something to avoid this accident and losing their lives remember! The altimeter was not just faulty, it was temperamental which is worse, so dont you think it could have been checked but avoided being spotted?

By guldal cimen | March 13, 2009 4:52 AM

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