The fatal crash of First Air Flight 6560 was according to the Transportation Safety Board due to an undetected autopilot change, faulty compass readings and disagreement between the pilots about whether to abort the landing.
"This accident was the product of a complex series of events, all of them lining up together," lead investigator Brian MacDonald said Tuesday as the report was released. "But what ultimately tied all these things together was that as the flight progressed each pilot developed a different understanding of the situation and they were unable to reconcile that difference. . . ."
Within seconds after that final turn, the co-pilot realized the plane was off course and repeatedly told the pilot, reminding him about the large hill to the right of the runway. The pilot replied that the autopilot was working fine.
Puzzled as to why the plane's navigational instruments weren't lining up with ground-based systems, the co-pilot asked the pilot if they'd done something wrong. Five seconds later, he suggested they pull up and go around for another approach.
The pilot, fully focused on landing the plane and on figuring out why his instruments were giving confusing readings, refused.
"It is likely that the captain did not fully comprehend information that indicated that his original plan was no longer viable.,"
It would seem that CRW issues (pilot communication) played an important role.
http://www.tsb.gc.ca/eng/rapports-reports/aviation/2011/a11h0002/a11h0002.asp
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/report-completed-first-air-plane-crashed-arctic-killing-080010129.html
"This accident was the product of a complex series of events, all of them lining up together," lead investigator Brian MacDonald said Tuesday as the report was released. "But what ultimately tied all these things together was that as the flight progressed each pilot developed a different understanding of the situation and they were unable to reconcile that difference. . . ."
Within seconds after that final turn, the co-pilot realized the plane was off course and repeatedly told the pilot, reminding him about the large hill to the right of the runway. The pilot replied that the autopilot was working fine.
Puzzled as to why the plane's navigational instruments weren't lining up with ground-based systems, the co-pilot asked the pilot if they'd done something wrong. Five seconds later, he suggested they pull up and go around for another approach.
The pilot, fully focused on landing the plane and on figuring out why his instruments were giving confusing readings, refused.
"It is likely that the captain did not fully comprehend information that indicated that his original plan was no longer viable.,"
It would seem that CRW issues (pilot communication) played an important role.
http://www.tsb.gc.ca/eng/rapports-reports/aviation/2011/a11h0002/a11h0002.asp
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/report-completed-first-air-plane-crashed-arctic-killing-080010129.html
