TRIPOLI, March 1 (Reuters) - A Libyan airliner crash at Tripoli airport in 2010, in which 103 people died, was due to human error and a lack of coordination between the pilot and co-pilot, Libya’s civil aviation authority reported on Friday.
The Airbus A330 operated by Libya’s Afriqiyah Airways crashed on May 12, 2010 as it prepared to land after a flight from Johannesburg, killing everyone on board except a nine-year-old Dutch boy.
Most of the passengers were Dutch tourists but nationals from Libya, South Africa, Britain, Austria, Germany, Zimbabwe and France were also killed.
The report pointed to communications errors and faulty procedures by the flight crew, blaming “the lack of a common action plan during the approach” and “the inappropriate application of flight control inputs during a go-around”.
It said the pilot and co-pilot failed to coordinate during the initial approach, with the final approach attempted below a minimum descent altitude and the runway not visible.
The co-pilot, who was in control, attempted to pull the plane up to abort the landing after realising the misjudgement but this disabled the auto pilot. The captain retook control without informing his co-pilot which led to the crash.
The report added that the “pilots’ performance was likely impaired because of fatigue” but it could not determine the extent to which this had contributed to the crash. It said also cloudy weather conditions were also to blame.
Investigators had previously said they had found no evidence that mechanical failure caused the crash. (Writing by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Alistair Lyon)
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