Pilots partly to blame for Allied Air cargo plane crash, final report suggests

Pilots of the Allied Air cargo plane that crashed at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra last year have partly been blamed for the crash.

According to the final report on the accident presented to the Minister of Transport, Mrs Dzifa Attivor, in Accra yesterday, the pilots landed 6,000 feet into the runway, instead of the authorised 1,000 feet, leaving them with only 4,000 feet to the end of the runway after landing.

The details of the report were not made available but the Chairman of the committee, Captain Aleck Grant Sam, who briefed journalists and Mrs Attivor, said information gathered from the Black Box indicated that the aircraft landed with a speed of 154 knots and 4,000 feet to the end of the runway.

Captain Sam said there had been no bird strike and even the weather could not be a contributory factor because just after the crash, a British Airways and a KLM flight landed safely at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).

He said investigations revealed that the trotro driver overtook an Opel car which could not start its engine when the traffic lights were green, only to crash into the plane.

He was of the view that if the trotro driver had waited for some minutes, the unfortunate incident could have been avoided.

Presenting its final report to the Minister of Transport, Captain Sam recommended that the Ghana Airport Company must consider building barriers similar to what pertained in some airports in the United States to forestall future loss of lives.

Receiving the report, Mrs Attivor said the payment of insurance to the deceased was an issue between the aircraft owners and the families of the deceased.

On June 2, 2012, the Boeing 727-200 cargo plane, operated by Allied Air of Nigeria, over-shot the KIA runway in Accra and struck a minibus, killing 10 passengers, including the driver.

Two other people who were in a taxicab which was grazed by the aircraft on the El-Wak-Burma Camp road, however, escaped unhurt, while all the four crew members of the aircraft survived the accident.

Days after the crash, a five-member independent committee was set up to investigate what led to the crash and make recommendations.

In September last year, the committee presented its interim report to the Ministry of Transport.

Copies of the interim report were also sent to the manufacturers of the aircraft in the USA for their input before the final report was released.

Last September, the lawyer for Allied Air had told the Daily Graphic that he had received claims for compensation for those who lost their lives in the accident.

Mr James Quarshie-Idun, the lawyer for the airline, said the claims were received on behalf of the airline and were being processed to determine the payment of appropriate compensation to the victims.

By Donald Ato Dapatem/Daily Graphic/Ghana

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