FlyDubai Crash: Pilot Fatigue?

A jet operated by Middle Eastern Low Cost Carrier (LCC), #FlyDubai crashed in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don Saturday morning, killing all 62 people on board.

 Flight FZ981 broke apart as it hit the ground while trying to land at 3:40 a.m., killing 55 passengers and 7 crew,

 The plane was making a repeat attempt to land in poor weather conditions when its wing touched the runway, leading the aircraft to break apart and burst into flames, the Rostov branch of the Emergencies Ministry said. Strong winds of more than 20 meters per second were registered in Rostov-on-Don at about the time of the crash, Rossiya 24 state television reported, citing local weather service.

 “We are working with the local emergency services and other agencies who are at the scene,” FlyDubai said in a statement. "At this moment our thoughts and prayers are with the families of our passengers and crew who were on board the aircraft.”

 Preliminary numbers on the passenger list showed 33 women, 18 men, 4 children and 7 crew on the Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The passengers were mostly Russian, with Ukrainian, Uzbek and Indian nationals also on board, FlyDubai said in a statement.

 Plane Circled

 The Boeing B737-800 was in a holding pattern above the airport for about 40 to 50 minutes before the pilots made the decision to land, Interfax newswire reported, citing source familiar with the preliminary details of investigation. The crew were calm and it didn’t report problems, the agency said. It also reported officials as saying they’re investigating human error, technical failure and difficult weather conditions among possible reasons for the crash.

 Winds were exceeding 30 knots, there was a low cloud base, rain and poor visibility all this may have led to an unstable approach situation leading the crew into executing a go-around, followed by a missed approach procedure and review the options to either divert or attempt another landing. "Weather and winds during the time from decent till approach may have exceeded the normal approach wind component for the Boeing B737-800.

 In between the FlyDubai jet’s first attempt to land and the crash, another plane made three landing efforts and then diverted,.

 "We don't yet know all the details of the accident but we are working closely with the authorities to establish the cause. We are making every effort to care for those affected and will provide assistance to the loved ones of those on board," flydubai CEO Ghaith Al Ghaith said.

 Al-Gaith later told a media conference the plane's pilots were "quite experienced," saying the Cypriot Captain had flown 5965 hours while the Spanish co-captain had flown 5769 hours.

 Answering a question regarding the difficulty of landing, al-Gaith said "as far as we know, the airport was open and we were good to operate."

 The United Arab Emirates CIvil Aviation Authority said it was sending four investigators to Moscow to participate with the Russians in the investigation into the crash. They would be joined by teams from Boeing and the U.S.-based National Transportation and Safety Board, an official told the conference.

 The airport is operated by a unit of billionaire Viktor Vekselberg’s Renova Group. It has two runways and serves more than 2 million passengers per year on domestic and international flights. 

 In between the FlyDubai jet’s first attempt to land and the crash, another plane made three landing efforts and then diverted, FlightRadar 24, which tracks airline movements, said in a Twitter posting. FlyDubai’s Boeing jet was delivered in 2011, it said.

 Last year FlyDubai had another incident as it touched down in Baghdad with damage to its fuselage suggesting gunfire. There were no fatalities or serious injuries and the airline suspended flights to the Iraqi capital during the investigation.

My Take on the Accident

 Both Black boxes have been retrieved from the crash site so soon we will be able to find out exactly what happened. Looking at the info we currently have I think it is important to note that this was a night flight and pilot fatigue could potentially be one of the causes. The fact two captains were flying together leads me to believe one of them was probably called out off standby. Being on standby on a night shift is really difficult because you really never know if and when they will call you for a flight. The challenge is always about how much sleep to get in the afternoon, leading up to your night standby. Surely after one attempt and while in the hold and seeing another aircraft divert after three attempts I would have personally elected to divert to the alternate airport. Maybe Flight FZ981 was low on fuel already…once we get more data we will know. Right now I reckon the cause is pointing more towards pilot error than anything else.

Overall Flight Safety Stats Improved 

The year 2015 was pronounced one of the safest years for airlines globally by the International Air Transport Association. The number of fatal accidents fell by two thirds last year, excluding more than 300 deaths resulting from a pilot suicide and possible terror attack.

There were four fatal accidents, all involving turboprop aircraft, in 2015, down from 12 a year earlier, IATA said in February. These killed 136 people. The 374 dead passengers and crew from the crash of Germanwings 9525 by a suicidal pilot and Metrojet 9268 on suspected terrorism.

Latest update looks like fatigue did play a major role in this accident. 

Fabrizio Poli is Managing Partner of Aircraft Trading Company Tyrus Wings. He is also an accomplished Airline Transport Pilot having flown both private Jets and for the airlines. Fabrizio is also a bestselling author and inspirational speaker & has been featured in the #Bloomberg, Chicago Tribune, Daily Telegraph, Billionaire.com, Wealth X, Financial Times, El Financiero and many other Media offering insight on the aviation world. Fabrizio is also aviation special correspondent for luxury magazine, Most Fabullous Magazine. Fabrizio is also considered one of the world's top 30 experts in using Linkedin for business. You can tune in weekly to Fabrizio's business Podcast Living Outside the Cube available both in video & audio. You can also follow Fabrizio's aviation videos on Tyrus Wings TV.

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