Pilot Saw Barrier on Closed Runway Too Late, Jet Crash Inquiry Reveals

The pilot of Singapore Airlines Flight 006 tried to take off from the wrong runway Tuesday night, causing the jumbo jet to hit a concrete barrier and other objects before breaking apart in flames, investigators here said Friday.

Just one second before impact, flight Capt. C.K. Foong shouted, “Something there!” and tried to pull the jet up to avoid a crash, said chief investigator Kay Yong. He quoted from a transcript of the last few moments inside the cockpit, caught on the aircraft’s voice recorder.

But the Boeing 747-400 could not clear the obstacle in time, ramming into it at a speed of at least 163 mph. An unintelligible remark and more impact noises sounded, Yong said, and then the recording went dead.

The retelling supported mounting signs that pilot error lay behind the fiery crash, which killed 81 of the 179 passengers and crew members on board. The victims included 24 Americans, whose relatives, in both grief and disbelief, began arriving Friday to identify and claim the remains.

It was the first major accident for Singapore Airlines in 28 years of operation.

Earlier this week, the carrier had dismissed the theory that Foong, a veteran pilot from Malaysia, steered his craft onto the wrong runway, which was under repair and is adjacent to the runway in use.

On Friday, however, the airline accepted the investigators’ findings. Foong survived the crash.

“They are our pilots. That was our aircraft. The aircraft should not be on that runway,” Cheong Choong Kong, chief executive and deputy chairman of Singapore Airlines, said at a news conference in Singapore. “We accept full responsibility.”

But significant questions remain as to whether something may have misled Foong into turning onto the wrong runway, known as runway 05R, and why its entrance had not been sealed off. Foong was assigned to take off on runway 05L. The 05 indicates that the runways point about 50 degrees magnetic on the compass, or roughly northeast; the R and L stand for right and left.

“The next step is to ask the whys,” Yong said. “We haven’t done any of that yet.”

One of the biggest issues centers on whether the lights lining either side of 05R were switched on at the time. The green lights down its center were lighted, but accounts by witnesses conflict over the status of the side lamps.

Crew members of the plane have told investigators that the side lights were on, which might have confused the captain into thinking that the runway was available. But employees in the control tower, who could not see the runway because of poor visibility caused by an approaching typhoon, said the switch was turned off.

Runway Assignment Was Understood

Whatever the case, the cockpit voice recorder makes clear that Foong knew which runway he was supposed to use.

At 11:15 p.m., as the plane taxied toward the runways, traffic controllers advised him of wind conditions--gusts up to 57 mph--and told him that he was cleared to take off from runway 05L. Foong repeated the instructions back to the tower and, a minute later, said in English, “We can see the runway not so bad.”

But at that point, he was making a right turn onto 05R, which the taxiing plane reached first, rather than bypassing it and going on to the correct runway. With no ground radar at Chiang Kai-shek International Airport and reduced visibility because of the bad weather, the control tower was not aware of the mistake.

At 11:17 p.m., one of Foong’s two first officers indicated that the jetliner had accelerated to 163 mph, a speed at which Foong could no longer abort the takeoff.

Just four seconds later, Foong uttered an expletive, which was followed by his exclamation of “Something there!” He was able to pull the nose of the aircraft up by about 6 feet, Yong said, when the first major impact sounded. That occurred about 3,000 feet down the 9,000-foot runway, where concrete blocks guarded the edge of the repair site.

The plane ultimately broke into three major pieces, with one section coming to rest more than half a mile down the runway from the initial point of impact. Two excavators in the runway’s construction area also showed signs of damage. Investigators are still trying to map the wreckage, which was strewn over a large area.

Runway 05R has been undergoing repairs since Sept. 13, with construction due to be completed by Nov. 22. Taiwanese aviation officials said notification of the runway’s planned closure went out Aug. 31.

In addition, every pilot is supposed to receive a briefing on all relevant conditions--from runway availability to weather reports--from a dispatcher here within a few hours before the pilot’s scheduled flight. The dispatcher assigned to Foong was interviewed by investigators Friday.

No Clear Explanation for Wrong Turn

Foong told investigators that he knew 05R was not in use, Yong said. But he has given no clear explanation as to why he turned onto the closed runway.

“The pilot is under a lot of pressure [right now], so there are a lot of things he can’t reply to completely clearly,” Yong said.

Besides questions surrounding the lighting on 05R, experts are looking into whether signage on the runway was clear enough for Foong to know where he was, even with the diminished visibility brought on by rain and strong winds.

At least two signs at the threshold of 05R specify which runway it is, Yong said: a small, elevated electronic red sign that was illuminated at the time and large white letters painted directly on the runway.

“We’re not certain whether the crew saw that or not,” Yong said.

Furthermore, the runway’s narrower width and green center lights should help distinguish it from 05L, which is wider by about 50 feet and has only yellow and white lights, Yong said.

Investigators are now asking whether there had been any reports of pilot confusion over the two runways before Tuesday’s accident.

It is also not clear whether Foong made one of his 10 previous trips to Chiang Kai-shek International Airport after construction on 05R had begun.

A preliminary report on the crash will be published in a month. Taiwanese investigators are being assisted by a team of eight experts from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and by investigators from Singapore.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Last Words on the Flight Deck

This is a transcript from the cockpit voice recorder aboard Singapore Airlines Flight 006, which crashed in a storm here Tuesday night while taking off on a runway closed for repairs. The transcript was read at a news briefing by chief investigator Kay Yong. The recording begins 18 seconds after 11:15 p.m.

11:15:18--Tower to Flight 006: “Singapore 6 runway zero five left [05L]. Wind zero two zero [20 degrees] at two eight [28 knots, or 32 mph]. Gust to five zero [50 knots, 58 mph]. Clear for takeoff.”

11:15:26--Capt. C.K. Foong: “Clear for takeoff. Runway zero five left. Singapore 6.”

11:16:19--Foong: “We can see the runway not so bad. OK, I am going to put it to high first.”

11:16:51--First Officer: “Eight zero knots.”

11:16:52--Foong: “OK, my control.”

11:17:08--First Officer: “V1.” (Speed of 163 mph, at which takeoff can no longer be aborted.)

11:17:12--Foong: “[Expletive]. Something there!”

11:17:13--(Banging sound.)

11:17:14--Foong: (Unintelligible words, followed by a series of crashing sounds.)

11:17:18--Recording stopped.

*

Source: Reuters

‘Something There!’

Investigators say the pilot turned his jumbo jet too early, taking a runway that was closed for construction. The plane barreled ahead into construction equipment. The cockpit voice recording showed that one second before the jet hit an object on the runway,

the pilot said, “Something there!”