Potential causes of sudden aircraft crash - Expert

SHAH ALAM – The aircraft crash in Elmina City, which claimed the lives of 10 victims, raises questions about how the aircraft dived to the ground.

Loss of control, unstable loads, engine failure or technical systems failure were among the potential causes of the Beechcraft Model 390 (Premier 1) owned by Jet Valet Sdn Bhd to crash.

This could have also pointed out why the pilot could not send an emergency signal before the crash.

Former Malaysia Airlines (Mas) pilot chief Datuk Captain Nik Ahmad Huzlan Nik Hussain said the aircraft may have lost control while at a position of 1,500 feet to 3,000 feet before landing.

He said at that altitude, the pilot would have trouble performing any drastic actions as the speed of the aircraft descending from a high altitude reached up to 3,000 feet a minute and 700 feet a minute while landing.

“If the loss of control occurs at 20,000 feet, the pilot may have a chance to act.

“However, if the aircraft itself was close to the ground, it can take between 20 seconds and a minute before the incident (crash).

“The pilot may have had no time to evaluate what is happening and take appropriate actions as time was of the essence,” he told Sinar.

However, he said the issue of the aircraft depleting its fuel could be debunked based on the logs confirmed before it took off in Langkawi as well as the explosion and fire after the crash which showed it had enough fuel to land.

Other theories could be a change in wind speeds despite the good weather as well as visibility reaching up to 10 kilometres when the incident occurred.

Nik Ahmad Huzlan said the discovery of the cockpit voice recorder (CVR), which was a part of the black box of the aircraft could aid authorities to find out the truth behind what happened.

However, he explained the voice recording would not explain the actual cause of the incident, but it may shed some light on it.

“For example, if the pilot was asleep or unconscious, he will not be speaking (however) the voice recording may give information (as to what happened),” he said.