Original Article by Terry Tozer
| Manx2 fatal crash at Cork The preliminary report on the Cork crash that I refer to below was published today. It is even worse than I anticipated. It wasn't just a case of pushing the limits at the 3rd attempt, which I suspected, but the very first approach was an illegal approach. The crew continued busting limits on every approach with ultimately fatal results. Every runway has published minimum weather requirements. A minimum Runway Visual Range (RVR) and minimum descent height limits are published for each category of aircraft; this one was Category 1, the most restrictive. It didn't even have an autopilot. It also had only very basic instruments, no flight director to help the pilot fly to greater degrees of accuracy. The limits that applied on the day - on the best runway – were 550 metres minimum RVR and 200 feet minimum descent height. At that height the pilot must either have sufficient visual reference to complete a safe landing or go around, executing a missed approach. The crew in question began the first approach when the RVR was below that figure, which meant an approach ban was in force. They then descended to below 100ft before executing a missed approach, an incredibly dangerous thing to do. They then went on to do this two more times, finally crashing on the third attempt. This is without an excuse of any kind. This typifies the sort culture that I have been writing about for years and shows that it is prevalent even here in the EU; you don't have to go to Thailand or Russia to be killed by airlines where the safety culture stinks. I am compelled to ask what the regulators are doing allowing a tour operator to masquerade as bona fide airline, whilst subcontracting the service to dodgy operators. As things stand this “airline” can operate throughout Europe, so this could happen in the UK. I am also bound to ask why the controllers at Cork failed to point out, in simple terms that approaches were for Category 2 aircraft only and that a Category 1 approach ban was in force. At least the crew would have known they were being watched and possibly reported. I would expect any crew to be reported to the authorities for breaking such a ban, as has happened in Britain several times over the years. This is yet another pointless, avoidable waste of life. |