Pilot Error Blamed for Air Crash That Killed 75

"PA"


Pilot error was blamed today for a Turkish jetliner crash last year that killed 75 people, including four Britons.

Turkish aviation authorities said the flight crew had insisted on landing despite low visibility.

In the January 2003 crash in Diyarbakir, south-eastern Turkey, the BAe RJ-100 landed short of the runway in dense fog, broke apart and burst into flames.

Aviation authorities, concluding their investigation into the crash, said the "flight crew was insistent on landing despite the fact that neither the approach lights nor the runway was visible."

The Turkish Airlines plane crashed just when the pilots changed their minds and decided to abort landing, the report said.

The crash was Turkey's worst air disaster in 25 years. Five people survived the crash with injuries.

Among the dead were four Britons, an American, an Austrian and a Finn.

Diyarbakir is 75 miles north of the Syrian border.

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