| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
  Cut price tickets, cut price safety November 18, 2007 Reporter :Sarah Ferguson  Watch videoReporter: Sarah Ferguson Producer: Nick Farrow Hundreds of thousands of Australians will fly to Thailand this summer; large numbers of them buying cheap tickets to holiday destinatations beyond Bangkok, using budget airlines based in Asia. But the question they should be asking is — is it safe? On September 16, 2007, a plane from one of the Thai budget airlines crashed in the driving rain on the holiday island of Phuket. Ninety people died, including one Australian. Many burned alive in the inferno. An accident caused by bad weather? Not so, say former pilots for the airline who warned the company before the accident that a crash was inevitable. This week on Sunday, we will reveal the cause of the crash and the serious problems with the Captain of flight 239 that were known to the company. Following an extensive investigation led by Sunday reporter Sarah Ferguson into a history of poor maintenance and pilot quality, we will also hear of the secret documents discovered by Sunday that dramatically changed the course of the crash investigation. Transcript When an airliner crashes with the loss of scores of lives, it is always a tragedy. But it's not always an accident. Certainly not if the airline has been cutting corners on maintenance of its planes, not training pilots properly, or asking them to fly more hours than they should. Those allegations have all been levelled at a budget airline in Asia which had a disastrous crash just two months ago. And now Sunday's investigations have changed the course of the official inquiry into that crash. On September 16, there was a crashed plane burning by the runway of a small Asian airport. This time, on the holiday island of Phuket. The flight was operated by the Thai airline, 1 2 Go. There were 130 people on board, mostly holiday-makers. 90 of them were killed, including one Australian. Many burned alive in the inferno. Today we'll reveal the cause of the crash. The problems with the captain of Flight 269, well known to the company. And the documents we discovered that dramatically altered the course of the crash investigation. Thousands of Australians travel to Thailand every year and large numbers of them buy cheap tickets to fly to holiday destinations beyond Bangkok, many of them using the low-cost airline 1 2 Go. According to senior pilots from that airline, every time they do so, they take their lives in their hands. Reporter: September 16th.... another crashed plane burning by the runway of a small Asian airport.. this time on the holiday island of Phuket... The flight was operated by the Thai airline 1-2-Go..there were 130 people on board, mostly holiday makers., 90 of them were killed,including one Australian. Many burned alive in the inferno. Robert Borland: The cabin was full of darkness , there was people screaming there was noise, just a big mess. Reporter:Today we’’ll reveal the cause of the crash, the problems with the captain of flight 269 well known to the company and the documents we discovered that dramatically altered the course of the crash investigation. Reporter: Hundreds of thousands of Australians fly to Thailand every year, large numbers of them buy cheap tickets to holiay destinatations beyond Bangkok, some using the low cost airline 12Go. According to former pilots from that airline every time they do so, they take their life in their hands. Francois Wurst: Everybody knew that something will happen, we didn’t, nobody did imagine it would so grave and tragic things. Pilot:I felt personally responsible partially for this accident for not having said something earlier. Pilot: They were definitely going to lose an airplane and they were definitely going to kill some people. Reporter:And we confront the owner of One Two Go with the allegations. Reporter: :Do you think that your airline should your airline continue to fly ? Udom Tantiprasongchai: At thismoment we believe that we have maintained the standard. Reporter: A number of former pilots believe you should be shut down? Udom:That’s their comment. Reporter:Almost immediately after the 1 2 Go plane crashed in the driving rain at Phuket, pilot forums on the internet filled up with angry messages about the airline. Online, pilots from 12 Go and its parent company Orient Thai spoke anonymously about their own experiences with poor maintenance and incompetent crews... Reporter: We set out to find the pilots , all of whom had left to work for other airlines.First officer Francois Wurst resigned from 1-2-Go a week after the crash ... Francois Wurst :We never had proper training and support for the crew. Reporter:Some, fearing reprisals, asked for their identities to be concealed. Pilot: They’re one of the lowest standards of an airline within Asia and I would make the comparison to aviation in Africa. Pilot: I wouldn’t fly it if you paid me to. Reporter:And would you allow your family to fly it? Pilot:Never. Reporter:why not? Pilot:I know what the safety culture is and what the attitudes are of at least the engineering side of the house. Reporter: The pilots we spoke to had all joined 1-2- Go after years of experience with major international airlines, many had been laid off in the aviation crisis that followed September 11th. They took flying jobs in Thailand, only to be hit by a second aviation crisis after the Asian Tsunami. Pilot::After the Tsunami the airline started to trim back on maintenance expenditures, the passenger loads were down and it seemed that corners were being cut in the maintenance of the airline. Pilot::The EECs, the electric engine controls would malfunction, hydraulic pumps would malfunction, engine failures you name the system and it’s probably happened. Reporter:One of the major issues was multiple engine failures on both fleets. Pilot::We were told that the engine was fixed and actually replaced on this particular airplane and I flew the airplane on a long trip and basically I lost all the oil out of that engine which required me to shut the engine down and make an emergency landing Reporter: :how is it possible that a properly run honest maintenance department could put a plane in the air with a defective engine ? Udom: I think there is a maintenance standard and again, the policy from me, very precise. Don’t fly the plane if it is unsafe. Reporter: Udom Tantiprasongchai is the owner and chief executive of 1-2-Go and Orient Thai. He started the airline in 2003, running passenger services in Asia and charters all over the world – including to Australia. His answer to all the pilots’ allegations: complete denial. Reporter: That plane flew four times the following week without the engine being fixed. it flew four times and the engine failed four times. how does that happen in a company that has a proper maintenance culture? Udom:I think it is not only my company it is all the airlines who have standard maintenance and they know what is safe to release or not too safe. Reporter: After breezily batting away dozens of serious allegations. Ever the showman, Udom proposed we take a flight that evening....on a 1-2-Go plane to Phuket. The same route taken by his plane that crashed. Udom :We’ll just take the best convenient time…. Reporter :Despite serious questions about the airline’s safety culture ... Udom puts on a slick PR front. Reporter: So it never crosses your mind to think your airline is not safe? Udom: That’s why we here. You scared? Reporter: It crossed my mind. You had a major plane crash with a huge number of fatalities. I would prefer not to fly your airline because I can’t be sure its safe. Udom: So why you decide to fly now? Reporter: Because you said I should come with you, I have come to have a look. Reporter: Saving a few bucks on cheap ticket, passengers are flying again less than a month after the crash. Reporter:So how do you explain the fact that a whole series of western pilots with lots of experience are so critical of your maintenance and the way your pilots fly. Udom:I see the same when they criticise their former employer with other airlines too. Reporter: Are you saying they are serial complainers? Udom:Yeah, they do the same. Reporter:They complain everywhere? Udom:yes. But the pilots recall a man prepared to order flight crews into the air in dangerous planes. Pilot: There were many situations where a captain refused to take the aircraft for any different level of safety issues. Management would seek certain pilots that they knew would say yes and accept the aircraft. That happened on a regular basis. Reporter: Knowing that a plane was unsafe they would all on another pilot to take that plane out? Pilot: Yes. Reporter: : Does that include Udom? Pilot: Yes. he would make personal phone calls at times to encourage people to fly the aircraft. Udom:I never call pilot myself. Reporter:Never? Udom:You can check anyone. Did any pilot call to make them to fly. Never. I would never do that. You look at my face. If I lie you can catch me. I never call pilot to say fly the airplane for me. Pilot::He pressured me to fly the plane. Reporter:Udom himself directly? Pilot:Yes. I spoke with him more than once for this instance. Three or four phone calls went back and forth. Reporter :And he was asking you to fly the plane? Udom:Yes. Reporter:On board the MD-80 – the same type of plane that crashed in Phuket…Udom wants us to meet Captain Roderigo. He wants to show he doesn’t interfere with the pilots. Udom::Tell him this is the first time I was in the cockpit. I never were in the cockpit. Tell him I never interfere in the cockpit. RODERIGO: Actually, it is the second time that I saw him ok? Even I almost didn’t know you. Reporter: Did you cause the crash because of the way you run this airline? Udom: i don’t think so and i deny that too. Reporter:What the pilots said to us is that the maintenance standards are so low, the standard of the pilots is now so low that this crash was inevitable. Udom:I think that this is something that we have to thoroughly study or investigate. because if that is the case then we shouldn’t be allowed to be keep on flying. you shouldn’t be on this plane with me. Reporter:The investigation into the crash is taking place here at the Thai Department of Civil Aviation. Vutichai We have already received the Black box. It is under investigation and analysis. Reporter: Flight 269’s Black box sits in a suitcase by a desk. It contains the final moments of communication between Captain Arief and First Officer Montri. Vutichai: Since the weather in Phuket quite bad on this time, so we still analyse what happened during the go-around phase of the flight. Reporter: The investigation has focused on decisions made by the crew in a failed last-minute attempt to abort the landing and go around… Vutichai :During approach, they experience with microburst so they tried to go around. Reporter: So it is possible that the pilot made a serious error of judgement? Vutichai …that i, it is, it might be, it might be. 21.23 Reporter: if it is the case that the pilot made an error of judgement, are you then concerned about the standards of pilots flying at 1-2-go ? Vutichai: Yes. Reporter: Captain Arief Mulyadi and first officer Montri Kamolrattanachai both died in the crash.They had joined the airline to fly a newly aquired fleet of MD-80s. Pilot:There was mainly Asian pilots on the MD80 but the wages were far below the industry standard, those were the only pilots that were attracted to come to work on the MD-80 fleet. Reporter:According to Francois Wurst pilot ability and training have replaced maintenance as the biggest problems at the airline. Francois Wurst::We explain them well that you have low standard pilots flying with young inexperienced first officers you will have problems soon.Wurst was specifically warned about the dangers of flying with Captian Arief. Francois Wurst:The Chief Pilot of the time did advise me before I started to fly with them with Captain Arief. He say, it was very short, he just said ‘ok, you going to fly alone.” Reporter: In difficult weather conditions Arief mentally froze. Francois Wurst: He was just like ‘oh my God, oh my God’ all the flight. So what did happen is exactly kinds of freezing situation where the guy says ‘well, we’re in trouble, we’re in trouble, we’re in trouble.’ And stop taking the decision at this time. Reporter:On July 3rd 2006, Wurst flew with captain Arief on a charter to Kabul to pick up the Afghan President Hamid Karzai and fly him to Tokyo. On the difficult approach into Kabul airport.... Arief froze again . Francois Wurst:It is just like you, you just like you just don’t take decision any more you just sit on your seat barely fly your aircraft. Reporter: Were you aware that that pilot had had problems flying a charter into Kabul? Udom :That charter is a VIP flight for President Karzai there’s no report on that. Reporter:But there was a report... observing Arief in the cockpit that day was the airline’s chief safety officer. Francois Wurst :He did observe and he did report and Arief was removed for the next flight. He was removed from the left seat. It was given to another pilot. Reporter: So you’re not aware there were complaints about the way he flew that flight into kabul ? Udom: As i said i have talked with the customer who escort him all the way, a charter company who did the job and they give good report, a good feedback on the flight. Reporter: i presume you made close enquiries about that pilot after the crash … Udom: mmm Reporter:: about the number of hours he’d been flying. about the quality of his flying? did you make those enquiries? Udom; yes, because i know he is a good pilot, he’s a very experienced pilot. Reporter:Unaware of Areifs history - the investigators wanted to know whether pilot fatigue had contributed to the crash.They asked 1-2-GO whether the captainand co-pilot had exceeded the legal limits on flying hours. 1-2-Go provided what it said was a monthly total of their flying hours...and the investigators accepted it Reporter: So you have actually checked the roster for the pilot? Vutichai :Yes, yes Reporter:and the co-pilot Vutichai :yes, yes. Reporter:and it’s okay Vutichai :it’s okay. Reporter:Are you concerned that fatigue may have played a part in the crash ? Udom : I don’t think that would be a conclusion. Reporter:Have you asked for information about the number of hours the captain of that plane was flying? Udom Yes , it’s according to the rule. we have a flight operations manual that they have to go by the rule here. Reporter: have you checked that arief was adhering to those rules? Udom: yes. Reporter Former pilots claim that 1-2-Go flight crews often exceeded the maximum number of flying hours, especially on the MD-80 fleet, the type of plane involved in the crash. Pilot: There was a certain group of pilots that would, on a regular basis, would fly not a few hours over their monthly limits, but exceed them by a large sum. 150 hours a month. Vutichai Impossible. Impossible. Our regulation is not more than 110 flight hour a month. Reporter sf: so if a number of different pilots say that they have flown 150 hours a month what would you say to that? Vutichai They against our regulation. Both company and pilot must be fined. Reporter: According to the former pilots there were incentives for people prepared to break the rules... Pilot: A close family friend of the owner of Orient Thai was in charge of the airport office CUT she gave cash in us dollars to the scheduler who would pass it on to the pilot after the pilot successfully completed the illegal action. Reporter:On one occasion this pilot – who’d had 20 years experince in a major internaitonal airline before coming to orient thai - actually saw the money change hands Pilot : In the case I saw it was 200 US dollars in cash. Reporter: And that money was reward for breaking flying times and rest regulations? Pilot:In this case it was. money to be paid to decrease the minimum rest below minimum requirement. Reporter:You saw the money change hands? Pilot:I saw the money and enquired to the pilot. He described that it had to do with taking less than minimum rest on his lay over. Reporter: $200 isn’t very much Pilot:Can you put a price tag on safety? I can’t. Reporter: We obtained a copy of the daily flying rosters for the pilots at 1-2-Go including Montri and Arief - for the month before the crash. The company did not give these rosters to the investigators. They just provided a break down of those figures that showed the pilots had not broken the rules. We showed the daily rosters to the crash nvestigators: the response was consternation. VutichaiThey have to explain to us why they give us thisincorrect data. We just tell them to provide us with the monthly roster. We don’t expect that they have another. Reporter:The senior investigators immediately began analzying the data WEEWIT: Flying time is 110 hours. But that is not what they actually did. Here look at the previous one. He’s over by 30 hours. Reporter:The calculation of Montri’s hours is just as important as Captian Arief’s... In bad weather, Montri not Arief was flying the plane on the approach to Phuket... Francois Wurst It was not ok, it should be the captain who was in charge of this difficult landing. The pilots decided to go around …but both of them forgot to press a vital switch to make that possible. Within seconds the plane crashed. Now the investigators have to establish whether fatigue played a role in that mistake. Vutichai We start today. We will send our investigator to discuss with them to look into the other record to compare with the ‘on-duty.’ Reporter: We’ve had some discussions about the company rosters that it appears from the number of hours that arief was flying that he was exceeding the maximum number of hours permitted by thai regulations. Udom: That, I’m not aware of that, that I’m not aware of that and I would not support that if that’s case and it would not be happen. Nobody can bend that rule. Period. Reporter: One Australian died in crash, father of four Brian Mullery from the Gold Coast.Another Australian, Robert Borland, was badly burned. He’s recovering in a hospital in Phuket with his mother Muriel at his side. Robert Borland :To suddenly see myself on fire and my trousers burning and the feel of that and the smell of the aviation gas, the aviation petrol, was very unpleasant and terrified me. I just tried to pull myself out of that tube. That’s the only way you can call it. A big black tube full of... of fire and darkness. Reporter:Udom came to visit soon after the crash Robert Borland I did say to Con Udom at the meeting that we had here in the hospital that I look forward to flying with him again one time in the future, because I just felt it was an accident. But maybe I don’t know enough. I don’t know. Reporter: With what we know now would anyone get on a 1-2-Go plane ? Reporter: At the end of the week the Thai Department of Civil Aviation came back to us with their preliminary analysis of the rosters: Reporter: This is what they told us. The documents we provided show both pilots involved in the crash had exceeded their flight hour limitations…by how much is still under investigation by the DCA. Reporter: The future of the airline and the owner are now in the hands of the Thai regulators ... Reporter: When he asked pilots to fly extra sectors, he know he was asking pilots to exceed int. regulations? Pilot:: He did. But he disregarded regulations. He did not believe they did not always apply. He believed that the company and the regulations had to be flexible to meet the commercial demands of the airline Reporter: Even if that placed the travelling passengers in danger? Pilot: Yes. Reporter: Given that you’ve heard a whole series of accusations about the low standard of maintenance, the dangerous maintenance and the number of hours your pilots are flying, what are you going to do about it? Udom: I will do more investigation myself to find out what I hear from. |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
