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| Altimeter 'had role' in air crash | Altimeter 'had role' in air crash |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Investigators have said a faulty altimeter played a role in the plane crash near Amsterdam's Schiphol airport last week that killed nine people. | Investigators have said a faulty altimeter played a role in the plane crash near Amsterdam's Schiphol airport last week that killed nine people. |
| Dutch Safety Board chairman Pieter van Vollenhoven said the plane was landing on automatic pilot and the problem with the altimeter led to a loss of speed. | Dutch Safety Board chairman Pieter van Vollenhoven said the plane was landing on automatic pilot and the problem with the altimeter led to a loss of speed. |
| He said the aeroplane had twice before reported problems with its altimeter. | |
| The Turkish Airlines plane crashed just short of the runway. It hit the ground tail-first and broke into three pieces. | The Turkish Airlines plane crashed just short of the runway. It hit the ground tail-first and broke into three pieces. |
| The Boeing 737-800 had been carrying 127 passengers and seven crew. Four Americans and five Turks died, including the captain and two other members of the crew. Dozens were injured, many critically. | The Boeing 737-800 had been carrying 127 passengers and seven crew. Four Americans and five Turks died, including the captain and two other members of the crew. Dozens were injured, many critically. |
| SCHIPHOL ACCIDENTS 27 October 2005: A fire at the airport's detention centre killed 11 people and injured 154 April 1994: Three people were killed and 13 seriously injured when a KLM flight carrying 24 people crashed on landing4 October 1992: An El Al Boeing 747 cargo plane crashed into an apartment block after takeoff, killing 43 people class="" href="/1/hi/in_pictures/7909940.stm">In pictures: Schiphol plane crash class="" href="/1/hi/world/europe/7910372.stm">Turkish plane crash: witnesses | |
| At a news conference in The Hague, Mr Van Vollenhoven said the plane had been at an altitude of 595m (1950ft) when making its landing approach to Schiphol airport. | |
| But the altimeter recorded an altitude of around ground level. | |
| The plane was on autopilot and its systems believed the plane was already touching down, he said. | The plane was on autopilot and its systems believed the plane was already touching down, he said. |
| The automatic throttle controlling the two engines was closed and they powered down. This led to the plane losing speed, and stalling. | The automatic throttle controlling the two engines was closed and they powered down. This led to the plane losing speed, and stalling. |
| Mr Van Vollenhoven said Boeing had been instructed to warn its clients about possible problems with altimeters on similar aircraft. | Mr Van Vollenhoven said Boeing had been instructed to warn its clients about possible problems with altimeters on similar aircraft. |
| Warning alarm | |
| Mr Van Vollenhoven said that a conversation recorded between the captain and two first officers in the cockpit showed they had noticed the faulty altimeter but did not consider it to be a problem, the Associated Press reported. | |
| Communications between Flight 1951 and air traffic control just before the crash | |
| "The crew initially did not react to these events, he said, but when a warning system sounded, they tried to restart the engines. | |
| "But the plane was too low at 150m. As a consequence the plane crashed 1km before the runway," said Mr Van Vollenhoven. | |
| BBC Transport correspondent Tom Symonds says that while it is not unusual for a plane's approach and descent to be controlled by autopilot, the crew normally take over at a few hundred feet. | |
| How the Schiphol crash happened | |
| The plane came down in ploughed fields several hundred yards (metres) short of the runway, having left Istanbul's Ataturk Airport at 0622 GMT. | |
| Witnesses described seeing it appear to glide through the air, having lost all propulsion, before hitting the ground. | |
| Passengers on board said the crew gave a landing announcement, then the plane dropped suddenly. | |
| An exchange between air traffic controllers and the crew recorded minutes before the crash gave no indication of any technical trouble. | |
| Last week, Turkish Airlines said that the plane had undergone repairs for a systems malfunction two days before the crash, briefly being been taken out of operation after the pilot reported a problem with the Master Caution Light programme, which checks the aircraft is functioning correctly. | |
| But the airline said it should not be seen as a potential cause of the crash. |