The International Federation of Airline Pilots Associations (IFALPA) is angry about the jailing in Italy of the Tunisian crew of the ATR 72 that ditched in August 2005. And so am I.The Italian court also jailed seven Tuninter managers including execs and various maintenance staff. None of them were in court and I'm not clear what the likelihood is of their serving their sentences.
Obviously I wasn't in court either and I don't know what the evidence was against the ground staff. But it's clear that the pilots were convicted in large part because of their alleged mishandling of the situation, and that much was made of their alleged praying when they should have been doing other things.
As it happens the CVR recording was leaked here
long ago (which alone raises enough questions about the Italian
authorities). Pilots were infuriated by that, but it has had the effect
of letting everyone judge the Italian court verdict. And I'd suggest is
clearly nonsense.
The transcript is also available in several places including here, which I've chosen because it's apparently a version that has been finally translated by a Tunisian and I'm hoping (might be wrong) will be accurate.
Allowing for cultural differences, including some muttered prayers going on - surprise, surprise - these guys were doing what they were supposed to be doing. Unsurprisingly so since they were, like all pilots in these circumstances, at physical risk themselves.
Did they do as good as a job as could be done? Hard to say, although as they'd run out of fuel for reasons for which they were not to blame, it didn't matter in the end.
Regardless, the idea of a jail sentence of any duration, let alone ten years, is absurd. And for well-documented reasons will have a chilling effect on flight safety.
Below is the text of the report by Italian press agency ANSA on the court hearing. I've linked to it above. but I'm posting it in case it's removed later.
The transcript is also available in several places including here, which I've chosen because it's apparently a version that has been finally translated by a Tunisian and I'm hoping (might be wrong) will be accurate.
Allowing for cultural differences, including some muttered prayers going on - surprise, surprise - these guys were doing what they were supposed to be doing. Unsurprisingly so since they were, like all pilots in these circumstances, at physical risk themselves.
Did they do as good as a job as could be done? Hard to say, although as they'd run out of fuel for reasons for which they were not to blame, it didn't matter in the end.
Regardless, the idea of a jail sentence of any duration, let alone ten years, is absurd. And for well-documented reasons will have a chilling effect on flight safety.
Below is the text of the report by Italian press agency ANSA on the court hearing. I've linked to it above. but I'm posting it in case it's removed later.
| Seven convicted for 2005 ATR crash |
| Sentences considered unprecedented |
| (ANSA) - Palermo, March 23 - Seven people were convicted
here on Monday for their responsibility in the August 2005
crash of a Tunisian Tuninter ATR 72 airliner off the Sicilian
coast which cost the lives of 16 people. The judge, who acquitted two defendants, also handed down sentences totalling 62 years All nine defendants were Tunisian and included the plane's pilot and co-pilot and Tuninter top brass, all of whom were accused of multiple manslaughter and causing a disaster. ''This was an unprecedented sentence but we have always maintained that it was an unprecedented incident,'' observed Niky Persico, a lawyer for one of the victims. ''Never before in the history of aviation disasters has there been such a chain of events and counter events,'' the lawyer added. Pilot Chafik Gharby and copilot Ali Kebaier each received 10-year sentences. Tuninter Director General Moncef Zouari and technical chief Zoueir Chetouane were sentenced to nine years while eight-year sentences were handed down to the budget airline's head of maintenance, Zouehir Siala, chief mechanic Chaed Nebil and maintenance squad leader Rhouma Bel Haj. Two members of the airline maintenance crew were acquitted. None of the defendants were in court for the sentencing and a lawyer for Tuninter said they will appeal Monday's sentence. ''Trials like these are always difficult. We did our job but in cases like this the atmosphere in court can play a big role,'' the lawyer observed. Tuninter ATR-72 was on a flight from the southeastern Italian city of Bari to the Tunisian resort island of Djerba when both its engines cut off as it approached Sicily on August 6, 2005. The plane was carrying 34 holidaymakers and a crew of five and thanks to the ability of the pilot the plane made a crash landing in the sea which allowed 23 people to survive. Italy's national agency for air transport safety (ANSV) concluded in September 2007 that the ATR 72 crashed because the twin-engine turboprop aircraft did not take on sufficient fuel before leaving Bari because of a faulty fuel gage. Prosecutors in Palermo, who carried out a parallel probe into the crash, from the start suspected that the plane had run out of fuel. According to the ANSV report, the day before the August 6 crash the fuel gage was replaced in Tunisia with one designed for an ATR-42 model, which is similar to the ATR-72 but has smaller fuel tanks. The same conclusions were reached by the aircraft's Italo-French manufacturer. |
on March 26, 2009 4:31 AM | Reply
I never seen a judgment like this one in a case of air plane crash ! The Italian judge is realy crazy, may be he was thinking he was judging a mafia header :P !
on March 27, 2009 6:31 PM | Reply
I really think you should send the court an email or a letter with this blog post in. they are putting innocent men in prison, and that, in part, is what the court is there to prevent.
on March 31, 2009 2:55 PM | Reply
Accountability - yes, scapegoated - no. People are paid for the jobs they do but emergencies by definition aren't always predictable and how any person handled them at the time was at least as good as anyone else unfortunat enough to find themselves in that situation. It took an accident enquiry months to find that, theoretically, the aircraft may have made Palermo when the crew had a few minutes. Hindsight is 20/20 vision.
If anyone can put his hand on his heart and call this 'justice', particularly in terms of the crew, then that is one warped sense of justice.
What was said about ATC's contribution?
on April 6, 2009 6:33 AM | Reply
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