http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1243354/1/.html
Indonesia blames pilot error for plane crash that killed 45
Posted: 18 December 2012 1349 hrs
Click to enlarge Photos 1 of 1
Coffins carrying the bodies of 45 passengers killed on the Sukhoi jet
crash can be seen at a ceremony on May 23, 2012. (AFP/File - Romeo Gacad)
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JAKARTA: Indonesian investigators blamed pilot error on Tuesday for a Sukhoi
Superjet crash that killed all 45 onboard an exhibition flight that slammed
into a Javanese volcano in May.
The National Transport Safety Committee (KNKT) found that the terrain awareness
and warning system (TAWS) was functioning and that the pilot had switched it
off before the crash.
"The TAWS had sent a 'terrain ahead' warning before the crash, followed by six
'avoid terrain' warnings. The pilot in command switched the TAWS off as he
assumed there was a database problem," KNKT chief Tatang Kurniadi said.
He said there was a "diversion of attention" in the cockpit before the Sukhoi
Superjet 100 crashed into the 7,200-foot (2,200-metre) dormant Mount Salak
volcano.
"The crash could have been avoided if a recovery action was carried out within
24 seconds from the first warning," he told reporters.
The flight was scheduled to be a 40-minute hop to showcase the new Russian
plane to prospective buyers in Indonesia, where the aviation industry is
booming.
The Superjet accident was taken as a blow to the Russian aviation industry,
which was hoping the twin-engine plane, the first new civilian aircraft built
in post-Soviet Russia, would improve its image.
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