July 5, 2001 THUR (Straits Times)
Co-pilot queried for not reporting captain
By Karen Wong
THE key witness in the SilkAir lawsuit was yesterday asked why he failed to tell the airline's management about Captain Tsu Way Ming's erratic behaviour.
First Officer Lawrence Dittmer was also cross-examined about why he had waited until the court proceedings, four years later, to talk about certain incidents.
Mr Dittmer is employed by SilkAir but was subpoenaed to testify for the families of six people who died in the Dec 19, 1997 crash, and who are now suing the airline for damages.
He was asked why he failed to tell SilkAir that Capt Tsu assured him he would inform management of an incident in which he missed the first landing approach at Manado airport in Indonesia, then did not.
Mr Dittmer said this was implied in his report, which was filed after management learned about the Manado incident. In it, he said he accepted responsibility for not checking whether Capt Tsu had informed management about the matter.
He also said that he later spoke to management about Capt Tsu's assurance.
Lawyer Lok Vi Ming said: 'You had not told anyone until yesterday, that Captain Tsu had told you he would take care of it.'
Mr Dittmer said: 'That's not true. I had informed management that Captain Tsu had told me in the cockpit that he would inform management.'
Mr Lok: 'Do you have any documents to show this?'
Mr Dittmer: 'No.'
The first officer was co-piloting the plane with Capt Tsu on two of the occasions when the latter breached safety procedures, in the months before the MI 185 crash which killed all 104 people on board.
SILKAIR CRASH LAWSUIT
Evidence 'showed probable cause'
Expert witness says investigators had enough evidence to support theory that 1997 crash was not accidental
By Karen Wong
THE Indonesian-led investigation team had enough evidence to conclude that someone in the cockpit probably caused SilkAir Flight MI 185 to crash into the Musi River on Dec 19, 1997, an Australian aviation expert told the High Court yesterday.
Captain John Laming, an expert witness for the families of six people killed in the tragedy, was testifying about the report, which gave an 'inconclusive' finding as to the cause of the Boeing 737 crash in Palembang, Indonesia.
The report, by the Indonesian National Transport Safety Committee, was released last December after a three-year investigation into the crash, which killed all 104 people on board.
Capt Laming, 67, debunked the 'inconclusive' part of the report, saying: 'I have my doubts about that. I think there was enough evidence to come up with the most probable cause.'
In his three-page report to the court, he said it would have needed someone in the cockpit to hold down the controls, set the electrical stabiliser trim control to full forward and engage full engine power to force the aircraft into the steep dive experienced by MI 185.
He said: 'With these actions held for a number of seconds, and no attempt taken to recover, the aircraft would eventually reach the point of no return and break up.'
Capt Laming is one of the three aviation experts testifying for the families who are suing SilkAir for 'wilful misconduct or default'. He has served in the Royal Australian Air Force as a pilot, aircraft accident investigator and a flight safety officer.
Now a Grade One flying instructor and air-crash consultant, he also said the extensive break-up of the aircraft at impact indicated the angle of its dive before the crash was 'very steep'.
He said: 'Someone had held down the stabiliser trim control for seven to eight seconds...It's an awfully long time to be holding the switch.'
He said that this was how long it would have taken for someone to get the trim control from 4.5 units to 2.5 units - the position in which it was in after the crash.
When Justice Tan Lee Meng asked him if a Boeing 737 pilot would know that if he pressed the switch down for seven to eight seconds, without doing anything else, he would die.
'Yes,' replied Capt Laming.
