The pilot of the E-190 crash from Henan airlines in Northern China in 2010 is now facing criminal charges stemming from the accident. This is a potentially dangerous move by the CAAC as most countries will indemnify you unless blatant negligence can be proven. There were obviously serious mistakes made but in my opinion not to the level of facing criminal prosecution. In China this could mean up to the death penalty if found guilty. Serious ramifications for Ex-Pat pilots to consider while flying in China.
Pilot failed to located runway in 2010 China crash, agency says | Fox News (http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/06/29/pilot-failed-to-located-runway-in-2010-china-crash-agency-says/print)

Hello, in China and some other countries you can plan on facing prosecution charges if your jet crashes and people are hurt...! It is a common way of life in China, someone must pay penalty.

There are many cases of this happening. I Remember one involving a small turbo prop, maybe an ATR than had to ditch in the ocean after running out of fuel people died. MX replaced his fuel gauge with the wrong one. He failed to do an uplift Check, and just used the fuel gauge. He was charged because they failed to feather the props in time and did not make landfall on 2engine out drift down. They Monday morning quarter backed him in the simulator for court prosecution and was convicted criminally around 10 years in jail. I may e wrong but I think it was a European country.

Captain is responsible for SOP, so many ways they can come after you.

So,fly safe and god luck,

On Final

Hello, I found the story. I remember the investigation was different, wasn't,t just some crazy pilot crying. The crash investigation TV show I watched showed the Captain was just slow to feather the props. When people day, they want someone to pay, the Captain is the man.

Here is a good link to the technical side of the crash.

Tuninter Flight 1153 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuninter_Flight_1153)


Take care,

On Final

Tunisian pilot who prayed as his plane went down jailed in Italy | World news | The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/25/tunisian-plane-crash-pilot-prayed)


A pilot accused of praying when he should have been taking emergency measures to avoid a crash in which 16 people died has been sentenced to 10 years in jail by an Italian court.

Captain Chafik Gharby was at the controls of a plane belonging to the Tunisian charter airline Tuninter that crashed in the sea off the coast of Sicily four years ago. The 23 survivors were left swimming for their lives, some clinging to a piece of the fuselage that stayed afloat after the turbo-prop aircraft broke up on impact.

Gharby was at first hailed as a hero for having saved the lives of most of the passengers. But after an investigation, he, his co-pilot, and several Tuninter executives and technicians were charged with a range of offences including manslaughter.

The court in Palermo agreed with prosecutors that the chain of events that led to the crash began when a wrong part was installed in the ill-fated plane, a Franco-Italian ATR 72. A mechanic accidentally fitted an outwardly identical fuel gauge intended for the smaller ATR 42.

The plane took off from Bari, bound for the Tunisian island of Djerba, on 6 August 2005. As it flew over Sicily, its engines slowed to a halt, even though the instrument panel showed the aircraft had enough fuel left for the flight.

The judges accepted the prosecution case that the pilots, instead of making a crash landing on the sea, should have been able to glide the plane to Palermo airport. Instead, Gharby was said to have panicked. In cockpit recordings entered as evidence he was heard calling for the help of "Allah and Muhammad his prophet".

His lawyer, Francesca Coppi, said: "Faced with danger, he invoked his god as would any one of us."

She described her client as "a broken man" who was "convinced he did everything possible to save as many lives as possible".

The co-pilot, Ali Kebaier, also received a 10-year sentence. Tuninter's director-general, Moncef Zouari, and the company's technical director were both given nine years.

A mechanic and two executives in the airline's maintenance department each received eight-year sentences. Two of the accused were acquitted. The remaining seven defendants, who were not in court to hear the verdict, will not have to go to prison until the appeals process has been exhausted.

Of the passengers who died, two were Tunisians. The other 14 were Italians and many of their relatives travelled to Palermo on chartered buses to hear the verdict.

Angela Trentadue, whose 27-year-old daughter died in the crash, welcomed the sentences. Another relative, who did not wish to be identified, said: "I wanted to hug the judge."