A draft report blames the EgyptAir crash in Tunisia two years ago on human error. Amira Ibrahim reports While Egypt continues to investigate why a Flash Airlines Boeing 737 crashed in Sharm El- Sheikh two months ago, an EgyptAir Boeing 737 crash in Tunisia two years ago is being blamed on human error. The draft report was delivered to Egypt by Tunisia two weeks ago; Egypt has 60 days to comment on it. The Egyptian feedback may or may not be included in the final report. A source at the Egyptian Aviation Ministry, who asked to remain anonymous, told Al-Ahram Weekly that, "Tunisian investigators concluded that the pilot did not apply a correct landing approach, which caused the plane to hit the mountain." The plane -- with 63 people aboard -- slammed into the Sidi Nahli hill just six kilometres from the Tunis-Carthage airport while attempting to land in adverse weather conditions on 7 May 2002. It split in two -- while the front remained intact, the tail disintegrated. Fourteen people died in the crash. The ministry source said a team of EgyptAir investigators and ministry experts "had already been dispatched to discuss the report with Tunisian authorities, and explore whether all the questions regarding the accident had been covered". Since Tunisia and France have a cooperation agreement whereby parts of the Tunisian accident investigation process take place in France, it was French aviation laboratories that analysed the plane's data and voice recorders. "Later aspects of the investigation were completely carried out by the Tunisians," the source said. Egyptian experts participated in the first phase of the investigations, and an American team from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) also took part, since the plane was manufactured in the US. Immediately following the accident, Egyptian and Tunisian officials adopted opposing points of view over its possible cause. Tunisian officials said the plane's landing gear failed to open during the approach towards the airport, and that the pilot had been trying to make an emergency landing. Egyptian officials said the plane's gear was found open, and thus concluded it had been a normal landing approach. Egyptian Aviation Minister Ahmed Shafiq's opinion was that the crash either resulted from a technical failure, or the pilot's inability to deal with the turbulence caused by the inclement weather. Speaking to the Weekly from Tunisia, the Egyptian Aviation Ministry's lead investigator, Shaker Qilada, said Tunisian aviation experts found no technical or mechanical faults with the plane itself, or any of its equipment. Plus, the pilot himself had not reported any such failure. The main question investigators have been trying to answer was why the pilot flew the plane at such a low altitude over such a mountainous area. "The plane hit the hill while preparing for a normal landing," Qilada said. "He certainly shouldn't have been flying at that height." The pilot, Ashraf Abdel-Aal, died a few hours after the crash. He had been promoted to fly the 737 class six months before the accident. "He was a professional with 10 years of experience," Qilada said. "He had flown more than 4,000 flight hours, and had landed at that airport several times before." Qilada said Tunisian investigators would still be receiving reports from Egypt regarding the rest of the crew's training. Tunisia is now saying the pilot miscalculated his landing approach. Although other sources postulated that navigational maps provided by Tunisian authorities could have partly contributed to a human error that caused the crash, Qilada ruled out the theory, placing more stock in the inclement weather being a primary reason for the crash. The fog, rain and dusty desert winds certainly must have hampered visibility tremendously. Qilada said the Tunisians had done a good job with the report; Egypt's comments would centre on technical terms and writing style, rather than differing points of view, he said. According to Qilada, investigators were also aiming not just to explain the crash, but find ways to avoid similar tragedies happening in the future. The Egyptian feedback would be handed to the Tunisians "within six weeks", he said.
