Phuket Air Crash Cover up

Air Crash Cover up
Posted by ChristySweet , Reader : 123 , 09:40:37

Letter to The Editor,
RE : Phuket Air Crash

I live about 7 or so kilometers, "as the crow flies" southeast from the Phuket Airport
Yesterday ( Sunday, Sept 16th ) at around 3 : 30 pm I was running around frantically, shutting all the windows in my home because rain was screaming in horizontally from every direction. The clouds covering the entire south west portion of the sky were the blackest I'd ever seen.

I am certified to fly a small plane so when I heard a jet liner go by, I thought to myself, even in Thailand where there is absolutely no regard for human safety, where parents routinely clutch infants with one arm while steering a motorcycle with the other - even here, the airport would be shut down during such a weather front as this one moving in. Surely that plane is being re-routed.
I was wrong.
I hope that those people who have lost loved ones from this tragedy do not settle with compensation from the Airline, 1-2 Go. Phuket Airport should have been closed for at least 2 hours during that weather front and the authorities need to be held accountable.

Christy K. Sweet
nationmultimedia.com

Nice of Chtisty K Sweet to stand up and be counted.

so why is it a cover up?? :confused:

me thinks she may be suggesting that it was a needless accident as the airport should have been closed and planes diverted .............

Just read the page the letter was taken from. The author has posted it to newspapers around the world. When asked if he'd posted it on the TV forum he replied

Quote:

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No I'm banned from Thai Visa , post it for me

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Cause of Thai crash sought as relatives claim their dead
Tuesday, September 18, 2007, 03.48 PM

snip

"There was a warning of wind shear from the pilot in the previous flight, which landed four minutes ahead," said Kumtorn Sirikorn, vice president of air traffic control body Aeronautical Radio of Thailand.

"Air traffic control asked the pilot whether he knew about this wind shear or not, and he said he knew ... then the air traffic control official gave him additional information and asked him whether he still wanted to land or not."

"The pilot insisted he wanted to land," Kumtorn told AFP.

However aviation officials previously said that Arief Mulyadi, the Indonesian pilot who died in the crash, had received permission to abort the landing at the last minute.

Arief Mulyadi's son told media in his home country that Phuket authorities said his father had wanted to turn back for Bangkok, but that the control tower said he should land.

snip

nst.com.my

Don't they have recordings of these conversations?

Of course the authorities here will say it was pilot error and just as a matter of fact the son defends his father

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mid

Arief Mulyadi's son told media in his home country that Phuket authorities said his father had wanted to turn back for Bangkok, but that the control tower said he should land.

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That sounds like plain bullshit to me - why would he choose to go back to Bangkok when there are nearby airports in Krabi or Surathani?

all over the wires now ...................

Air traffic officer sent to see psychiatrist


A senior male air traffic officer at the Control Tower of the Phuket International Airport has been sent to meet a psychiatrist at the Bhumibhol Aeronautical Medical Hospital to be tested whether he is mentally fit to continue his duty following Sunday's plane crash.

Kamthorn Sirikorn, deputy director of the Aeronautical Radio of Thailand Lt, said an initial probe did not find that the officer had committed any mistake and he was not suspended from duty.

He said the officer was simply sent to receive a mental rehabilitation because he interacted with the pilot of the doomed flight from the beginning until the crash.

The Nation

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lom

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mid

Arief Mulyadi's son told media in his home country that Phuket authorities said his father had wanted to turn back for Bangkok, but that the control tower said he should land.

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That sounds like plain bullshit to me - why would he choose to go back to Bangkok when there are nearby airports in Krabi or Surathani?

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my initial thoughts also ,

however ,

he would have the fuel and it would cause the LEAST disruption .........

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DrB0b

Just read the page the letter was taken from. The author has posted it to newspapers around the world. When asked if he'd posted it on the TV forum he replied

Quote:

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No I'm banned from Thai Visa , post it for me

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it's there ,

no not by me .....................

Quote:

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But a transcript of the last conversation between the control tower and the plane revealed that ground officials had informed the pilot about wind shear at the airport but he decided to land anyway, the air transport department's director general Chaisak Ungsuwan said on The Nation TV channel. "The last word the pilot said was 'landing'," he said

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Survivors angry that pilot tried to land plane in monsoon storm | The Guardian | Guardian Unlimited

time to say it again ,

why was the airport open ??

From the above link:

Quote:

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Airport director Pornchai Ua-aree told reporters that visibility was 3-4km and the winds were not so strong, at about 11 knots or 19km an hour.

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Not sure how believable it is. Winds of less than 12 knots are not going to cause that much trouble landing.
Seems to me the truth is not going to come out of the Airport authorities.

^^ TiT... :(

Maybe the airport should of been shut down.
It was the ultimate decision of the Pilot to land there. Who is to blame?? They will Blame it on the pilot hes dead and can not defend him self. may be a small percentage of the blame will go toward the airport authorities but i drought it

no doubt the pilot will wear this one ,

as for NEXT time ..................

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mid

Cause of Thai crash sought as relatives claim their dead
Tuesday, September 18, 2007, 03.48 PM

snip

"There was a warning of wind shear from the pilot in the previous flight, which landed four minutes ahead," said Kumtorn Sirikorn, vice president of air traffic control body Aeronautical Radio of Thailand.

"Air traffic control asked the pilot whether he knew about this wind shear or not, and he said he knew ... then the air traffic control official gave him additional information and asked him whether he still wanted to land or not."

"The pilot insisted he wanted to land," Kumtorn told AFP.

However aviation officials previously said that Arief Mulyadi, the Indonesian pilot who died in the crash, had received permission to abort the landing at the last minute.

Arief Mulyadi's son told media in his home country that Phuket authorities said his father had wanted to turn back for Bangkok, but that the control tower said he should land.

snip

nst.com.my

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two versions of this going around ,

the last two sentences are missing from the other version .

Quote:

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Originally Posted by donmeurett

Maybe the airport should of been shut down.
It was the ultimate decision of the Pilot to land there. Who is to blame?? They will Blame it on the pilot hes dead and can not defend him self. may be a small percentage of the blame will go toward the airport authorities but i drought it

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One report was that the Pilot & co had survived?
Doubtless there will be a cover up! of some sort -

Haven't the black boxes been sent to the US for analysis? Surely in this case it is dealt with by the international aviation bodies and all the fact should come out?

Phuket Airport 100% ready
Tue, September 18, 2007 : Last updated 17:29 hours


Passengers undettered by the Sunday's plane crash

Phuket International Airport Director Pornchai Eua-aree insisted Tuesday that the airport is "100 per cent ready" in terms of safety measures and to resume full operation following the Sunday's plane crash.

The airport receives the confirmation of landing and take-offs of 106 flights per day, he said.

The airport's maximum capacity is 114 flights a day.

He also insisted that located by the shore, despite strong wind the airport does not constitute any obstacles in landing and take-off.

"(Before the One-Two-Go Fight OG029 accident), no plane had never skidded off the runway. This is the first time and we're not yet sure if the plane really skidded off as the investigation is underway," he noted.

He also insisted that emergency measures have been well-prepared in line with the standards imposed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

It was reported that a large number of passengers, foreign and local, are at the airport to check in like it was before the accident.

Most of them said they are undeterred by the accident and are confident with the safety standard at the airport. However, they said that they would stick to mainstream airlines.

On the way back to Bangkok, Praphan Sirikururat, 49, said he arrived in Phuket on Sunday. He is still confident in the safety standards at the airport, for landing and take-off. He is a regular customer of Thai Airways International.
- The Nation
nationmultimedia.com

Editorial:Get to the truth behind plane crash

While the cause of Sunday's disaster is unclear, improved public safety for all can prevent or mitigate major accidents in the future
Published on September 18, 2007

The actual cause of the crash of a budget commercial airliner in Phuket on Sunday, in which some 89 passengers were killed, will not be known until aviation authorities have analysed crucial data stored in the plane's black boxes and concluded their investigation into all parties involved, which could take weeks or months.

The priority now is for the operator of One-Two-Go Airlines and the Thai government to provide the best medical treatment possible to the scores of injured survivors and full assistance to bereaved relatives by ensuring the timely identification of the bodies of those who perished in Thailand's worst air disaster in a decade.

snip

There is no way the government can make a distinction between improving tourists' safety without upgrading overall public safety, because these days tourists and locals are so intermingled as to be inseparable. Apparently, what is keeping the government from improving overall public safety in this country is self-contempt and the lower value it puts on local people's lives.

The Nation

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BKKBoet

Haven't the black boxes been sent to the US for analysis? Surely in this case it is dealt with by the international aviation bodies and all the fact should come out?

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I believe it's impossible to tamper with the black boxes. If those are sent intact to NSTB for analysis we might know the truth.

Sept. 18, 2007, 6:20AM
Wind shear systems eyed in Thai crash

© 2007 The Associated Press

BANGKOK, Thailand — Half of the systems used to detect wind shear at the Phuket airport were not working at the time of the weekend plane crash that killed 89 people, a Thai official said Tuesday.

"Three out of six low-level wind shear alert systems were not working at the time," said Vuttichai Singhamanee of the Transport Ministry's Aviation Authority Department.

The budget One-Two-Go Airlines flight was carrying 123 passengers and seven crew members from Bangkok to Phuket when it skidded off a runway Sunday while landing in driving wind and rain, catching fire and engulfing some passengers in flames.

Investigators have said wind shear — a rapid change in wind speed that can affect takeoffs and landings — was among the possible causes of the crash.
chron.com