Lack of proper landing procedures may have caused CAL crash in Guyana

A report in the Wall Street Journal Monday said crash investigators believe excessive speed and other possible errors in landing procedures caused a Caribbean Airlines jet to roll off a Guyana runway late last month.

Preliminary findings by investigators point to “pilot error rather than mechanical or other system malfunctions,” the paper said.

No one was killed, but some passengers suffered minor injuries.

According to the paper, eyewitness accounts and data retrieved from the plane's data-recorders indicate that the aircraft carrying 163 people, landed too fast and too far down the runway on July 30.

It quoted the head of Guyana's civil aviation authority as saying that the cockpit crew did not report any problems to air-traffic controllers. And Zulfikar Mohamed said data analyzed by investigators so far also don't highlight any major system malfunctions.

Mohamed also downplayed theories that hydraulic or mechanical problems played a significant role in the accident, the paper said.

The paper also noted that photographs taken after the accident don't show either sets of panels, called flaps and slats, extended on the plane.

In two separate interviews last week, Mohamed also said some investigators investigators believe that movable panels on the front and rear edges of wings weren't extended as required before touchdown. The panels slow the aircraft's speed during descent.

Mohamed said that investigators found the handle in the cockpit, normally used to extend the flaps, in the up position, which would be consistent with the panels not being extended.

The paper stated that investigators still have to rule out the possibility that the wing panels could have retracted after touchdown, or rescue crew could have inadvertently moved the flap handles when they were removing the plane's injured pilot or other perhaps other survivors.

“It would be highly unusual for an experienced captain, such as the one who commanded the Caribbean Airlines flight, to fail to extend flaps prior to landing. Such a mistake, according to safety experts, normally would prompt obvious and repeated warning in the cockpit, and the plane would be extremely difficult to fly at normal approach speed,” the Wall Street Journal said.

“The airport experienced light rain around the time of the accident, but visibility apparently was good. Investigators, among other things, are trying to determine if some distraction in the cockpit could have resulted in improper landing procedures,” it added.