Final report issued on Caribbean' MD82 crash

[Grunf]

Hello all. Is tihis a lesson (?!) or not?:confused:

Hope to see the full report.

Cheers,

************************************************************ ************

From Aviation Daily (Aug 21, 2006)

Last Year's West Crash Caused By High Altitude, Experts Concur

The August 2005 crash of an MD-82 belonging to Caribbean Airlines over northwestern Venezuela happened because the aircraft exceeded its operational altitude and speed and failed to remain airborne, concluded a multi-national group of technical experts investigating the accident.

The group included experts from Venezuela, Colombia and France, the home country of all 152 passengers who died in the crash, a charter flight from Panama to Martinique.

Caracas daily El Nacional first reported the findings, contained in a report by Paul-Louis Arsianian, who headed the French contingent. Arsianian said the investigation first concentrated on bad weather and overloading, but these were only contextual factors and not the main cause of the accident.

He added there is still no explanation of why the pilots told the control tower the turbines were not working because the experts concluded the opposite from flight recorders.

[jondc9]

flying too high for a given weight can make many things worse.

and advice to all captains...if your copilot says: why not turn on engine anti ice/ignition pitot heat wing heat etc...JUST DO IT!

jon

[flyin'fish]

Hi, reading the report even in such a brief text, makes you wondering a bit.
Flying in an weather environment as decribed, seems obvious that NO relevance has been given to situational awereness.
Another unforgiven Lesson to learn.


MD83 skipper

[Mercenary Pilot]

:confused:

Am I missing something? That doesn't appear to be a final report to me?

[Kalium Chloride]

No, you're not missing anything Mercenary - just people jumping the gun. The remarks aren't from a final report, they're just general comments made because it was the anniversary of the accident earlier this month.

As you were, men.

[Grunf]

OK, no final report yet, that is true.

One would expect them to get out at the same time (NTSB, BEA France, CIAA Venezuela) although politics can again be of some impact.

Cheers

[Belgique]

Investigator cites fire in plane crash

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CARACAS, Venezuela -- The engines of a doomed jet were on fire when it crashed in Venezuela a year ago, killing 152 tourists from Martinique, authorities said Monday.

Inspections of the wreckage of the West Caribbean Airways charter jet confirmed that "the engines were on fire when the airplane fell to the ground," the Infrastructure Ministry said in a statement without elaborating.

Venezuela's investigation board chief, Lt. Col. Lorllys Ramos Acevedo, said investigations were about 75 percent complete but it was still too early to reach conclusions about the cause of the crash.

Authorities were considering factors such as adverse weather conditions and trying to determine the plane's weight to see whether it was flying at a safe altitude, she said.

The McDonnell Douglas MD-82 was flying from Panama to Martinique on Aug. 16, 2005 when it crashed in western Venezuela, also killing its eight-person Colombian crew.

French, Colombian and U.S. experts have been cooperating with Venezuelan investigators, but few explanations have emerged more than a year after the disaster.

[Dream Land]

and advice to all captains...if your copilot says: why not turn on engine anti ice/ignition pitot heat wing heat etc...JUST DO IT!
Properly trained pilots complying with aircraft limitations is the only thing that ensures safety. :ok:

[Kalium Chloride]

Inspections of the wreckage of the West Caribbean Airways charter jet confirmed that "the engines were on fire when the airplane fell to the ground," the Infrastructure Ministry said in a statement without elaborating.


I'm not sure. The statement actually says that "las turbinas esteban encendidas", which (pardon my Spanish) seems to say that they were 'ignited' - as opposed to being flamed out, which is what the pilots reported to ATC.

Anyone speaka da lingo well enough to say one way or the other?

[broadreach]

KC you're absolutely right. "Las turbinas estaban encendidas" means they were "lit", i.e. working. Nothing to do with fire at all.