DAVID LEARMOUNT / LONDON
Radio call from aircraft during approach declared an unspecified emergency
The crew of the Kish Air Fokker 50 that crashed on approach to Sharjah International airport in the United Arab Emirates last week, had reported an unspecified emergency shortly before it came down in open ground 3km (1.6nm) from the runway. All but three of the 46 people on board were killed.
The accident happened as the Iranian airline's Fokker 50 (EP-LCA) neared the end of a flight from Kish Island, Iran. According to Sharjah authorities, the flight was a "visa run" to allow immigrant workers to renew their documentation.
According to the Iranian civil aviation authority, the crew radioed that they had an emergency, but did not give details. The 10-year-old twin-turboprop is one of four Fokker 50s operated by Kish Air.
Investigators are likely to study possible similarities with the November 2002 crash of a Luxair Fokker 50 on approach to Luxembourg Findel airport. The final report into that crash concluded that the pilot had selected ground-idle propeller pitch in flight to regain the glideslope from above, which made the aircraft uncontrollable. Although the crew was criticised, a system supposed to prevent selection of ground idle in the air had failed.
Source: Flight International
