Interim report into deadly South Korea plane crash highlights pilot error
Sources indicate "clear evidence" that pilots mistakenly shut down the less-damaged left engine instead of the right after a bird strike.
The yet-to-be-released interim report also suggests pilots landed the aircraft too fast with the landing gear retracted and deviated from standard protocol.
Victims' families disrupted a planned press briefing, accusing officials of prematurely blaming the pilots and calling the interim report inadequate.
Officials subsequently cancelled the briefing and retracted copies of the report, stating it had not been formally released.
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Reuters
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- Reuters
Teacher dies saving students from inferno in Bangladesh jet crash
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The Independent
14 hours ago
- The Independent
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Times
a day ago
- Times
Captured: moment seagull hits 600mph Typhoon at air show
A photographer has captured the moment a seagull collided with a Spanish fighter jet, shattering its canopy as it was performing aerobatic manoeuvres at an air show. A lesser black-backed gull flew into the path of the Eurofighter Typhoon as the plane was flying at about 600mph at the Aire 25 air show in San Javier in Murcia in June. Javier Alonso de Medina Salguero, an aviation photographer, captured the incident in a four-shot sequence before and after the moment the bird hit the right side of the windscreen. The final shot shows the shattered perspex and the pilot, who ended the flight and returned to land. The bird just before the strike and, below, the moment of impact JAVIER ALONSO DE MEDINA SALGUERO/SWNS JAVIER ALONSO DE MEDINA SALGUERO/SWNS Tens of thousands of birds hit aircraft in flight every year, almost always at low height near airports. The majority cause little damage. Most cases that make the news involve jets that suffer engine failure after their turbines ingest birds. A bird strike began the sequence that brought down a Jeju Air Boeing 737 in Muan, South Korea, in December, killing 179 people. Windshield strikes, which account for almost half of bird collisions with helicopters and about 20 per cent with fixed-wing planes, can be dangerous. Pilots have been killed and badly injured when larger birds have smashed through the windscreen, hitting them in the head and chest at speeds of more than 100mph. The impact energy of a seagull with a jet fighter near the speed of sound is huge, potentially destabilising it in low-altitude manoeuvres. The cost of replacing the canopy can run well into six figures. • Planes are striking more birds, but Detective Dove is on the case The photographer said he was using a Nikon D7500 with a 200-500mm lens when he saw the Eurofighter pull out of the display. 'They reported over the radio that it had hit a seagull and broken the cockpit. Just then, I looked at the photos I had and saw the whole sequence,' he said. 'I was amazed to see the front of the cockpit broken.' The pilot was able to land safely despite the shattered windscreen JAVIER ALONSO DE MEDINA SALGUERO/SWNS King Felipe was attending the show, in which there were displays by Spain's Eagle Patrol, the RAF's Red Arrows and Italy's Frecce Tricolori teams. The jet that hit the bird was from the Spanish air force's 11th wing, based in Moron.
