Investigators Say Pilot Planned To Fly The Airplane With 33 On Board Into The Ground

An aviation official in Mozambique says that a November 29 crash in a national park in Namibia was intentional. Thirty-three people on board the airplane were fatally injured when it went down.

The Associated Press reports that the investigation indicates that the pilot of the Mozambican Airlines E190 planned to bring it down. His motives are still unknown. The co-pilot was out of the cockpit when the pilot made the move to crash the plane.

According to radar tracking data, the plane began to dramatically slow down over northern Botswana. The flight had proceeded normally until that time, and no mechanical malfunction was indicated. The pilot, identified by officials as Herminio dos Santos Fernandes, apparently then adjusted the altitude selector manually three times, from 38,000 to 529 feet, according to Joao Abreu, chairman of the Mozambican Civil Aviation Institute. Abreu said that the preliminary findings were gathered from recordings and other factors in the early parts of the investigation.

Abreu said that the way the controls were manipulated to bring about the crash "required detailed knowledge of the plane's controls, and showed a clear intention to crash the aircraft."

(Image from file)

FMI: www.caa.co.za/Public/FAQ/CAAs%20in%20Africa.htm