Zeenext Bureau
Manama (Bahrain), Aug 26: The investigation into the Gulf Air jet crash pointed to a possible pilot error on Friday, though airline officials denied that the pilot was at fault.
The crash killed all the 143 on board, including an Indian airhostess.
CNN and local newspapers reported on Friday that the pilot, Ihsan Shakeeb, requested for a “go around” after trying to land at the first attempt, but aborted it without any explanation. The control tower was concerned that the plane was not at the right altitude and was flying too fast to land. The air traffic controllers (ATCs) discussed this with Shakeeb, who had more than 6,800 flying hours.
The plane, en route to Cairo, circled the airport twice before crashing into the Persian Gulf on the third attempt. But ATCs reported that they did not receive any message from the pilot about a possible technical snag in the plane.
Gulf Air's chief pilot Hamad Ali said the pilot spoke normally and reported no technical problems when he spoke to the pilot during the flight. Ali told the media that the pilot had been cleared to land when he was 7 nautical miles away from the runway.
Gulf Air Chief Executive Officer Sheikh Ahmed bin Saif al-Nahayan, at the same press conference, said the two black boxes from the plane had been recovered from shallow waters and had not been opened yet.
