Thai transport minister Suthep Thaugsuban has promised to reform the country's aviation bodies following the fatal crash of a Thai Airways International Airbus A310 at Surat Thani 11 December.
Suthep, whose sister was among the 101 dead out of 146 people on board, says the results of the crash investigation will be disclosed by 24 February, following the extraction of data from the aircraft's cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
The minister says he plans to set up an agency to co-ordinate the work of the Aviation Department, Airports Authority of Thailand, Aeronautical Radio of Thailand, Thai Airways International and the Meteorological Department. The move comes after criticism that poor co-ordination of these organisations has compromised safety.
The aircraft crashed on its third landing attempt at the airport, where there was no functioning instrument landing system, and half the runway lights were deactivated. The runway had been under repair for several months.
The transcript of conversations between the cockpit crew of Thai flight TG 261 and Surat Thani air traffic control has now been released, but raises further questions about the weather conditions at the time of the crash. Many reports to date have cited a heavy rainstorm in the vicinity at the time of the crash although Surat Thani tower only reports light rain throughout the incident.
The tower also warned the pilot that the precision approach path indicator (PAPI) light on the right hand side of the runway was not working, although the left hand PAPI was. The pilot appears to have had difficulty seeing the runway on each approach attempt, although after his first go-around he reports being able to see the runway at "3 miles [5km]".
As TG 261 made its third and last failed landing attempt, which led to an apparent stall into the ground during the go-around, the tower reported visibility to be only 1,000m (3,300ft). The Thai operations manual mandates a third landing attempt only if conditions have improved "considerably".
The last communication in the air traffic control transcript is the pilot confirming his landing clearance on runway 22.
Source: Flight International
