Air Crash Investigated

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31880, 7 January 1969, Page 11

Air Crash Investigated

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) r GATWICK (England), Jan. 6. The pilot of the Boeing 727 jet airliner ! which crashed in dense fog south of London yesterday, killing 50 people, may have misunderstood the visibility report he was given by Gatwick Airport.

A statement from the Board of Trade says that after being told of 100 yards visibility in freezing fog, the pilot elected to make an approach, indicating that if he overshot he would divert to [another airport. Seventeen people survived ■ when the Afghanistan Ariana Airlines jet ploughed through

fields, smashed through a house and exploded. But two later died and a third is critically ill. The aircraft, the first to attempt a landing at Gatwick for more than 10 hours because of the fog, was about two miles short of the airport when it crashed. Because all the survivors, who included three of the crew, were in the forward section of the aircraft, the crash investigators believe the pilot realised his predicament as the airliner brushed over tree-tops, and was fighting to regain height in a nose-up position. 14 Children Dead The 50 killed included 14 children. Most of the passengers were Pakistani immigrants. Airport officials say it was I the pilot’s own responsibility to decide whether to attempt a landing although conditions at Gatwick were "pretty grim.”

The pilot, Captain Rahim Nawros, aged 38, an Afghan, decided to make one attempt to land and, if he failed, to divert to London’s main airport at Heathrow. A Board of Trade inspector, ktr George Kelley, said at the scene of the crash today that the minimum acceptable visibility for a Boeing 727 was about 400 yards. British airlines lay down a minimum of 600 yards visibility for landing this type of aircraft. Three Killed In House A problem confronting the investigators is why the aircraft was too low. On a landing run-in, it should have been flying at 300 feet at the point where it crashed into a house, whose three occupants were killed outright. The specialists will try to

establish whether the air-il craft's altimeter was working correctly. ii Last night, a cockpit voice- < recorder was recovered from]: the wreckage, which was • strewn over a wide area. According to the “Daily ‘ Express,” air traffic controlI lers at Gatwick Airport, whom . the paper does not identify, have said a radar guidance device dismantled only recently might have prevented the disaster. The device, called “precision approach radar” could have warned the pilot that he was too low. The unnamed controllers said the device was dismantled recently at Gatwick and there were plans to remove similar equipment from Heathrow next month. The device is similar to in-, I strument-landing equipment I I installed in Boeing 727 s and most other jetliners. It al-j

lows ground controllers to “double up” with the pilot and warn him should the aircraft deviate by as little as 20 feet from Its fixed descent.