OWN CORRESPONDENT, Abidjan | Tuesday
A YEAR after a Kenya Airways Airbus plunged into the sea off Abidjan, killing 169 people, investigators are no closer to determining the cause of the accident, blaming the delays on a faulty black box and inaccessible wreckage.
The plane crashed into the sea on January 30, 2000, two minutes after taking off from Abidjan airport on a flight to Nairobi via Lagos, with 179 people on board. Ten people survived. Only 146 bodies were recovered.
In a statement on the eve of the first anniversary of the crash, Transport Minister Aime Kabran Appia said the inquiry had had to overcome two main obstacles – one of the aircraft’s two “black boxes” was not functioning, and the wreckage is still at the bottom of the sea.
The black boxes record all details of the flight.
Appia said sonar cartography – undersea mapping of the wreckage by means of sonar – was likely to be completed by the end of February, with the aid of French experts.
Simulation tests will then follow at Airbus Industries’ headquarters in Toulouse, France, and a final report will be compiled “between April and June, 2001.”
Gerard Bonneau, chairman of an association formed by families of victims of the crash, slammed the attitude of Kenya Airways, saying the company had maintained “a complete silence, without making any contact with the families.” He was disappointed the minister “did not announce anything more.”
The two black boxes were recovered and analysed by the Bureau of Transport Security of Canada (BSTC). But because of “technical problems”, the BSTC said, the recording of the flight details was completely blank.
The recording of the conversation between the pilot and co-pilot did not add much information.
According to ACA 431, the aircraft barely climbed more than 300 feet before it dived into the sea. At 200 feet, an alarm mechanism was set off and the co-pilot said: “What’s the problem?”
When the plane was about 20 feet above the water, the pilot intervened for the first time, saying: “Go up.” – AFP