Pilot mental health has again come under the spotlight after a Nepalese investigation found a stressed pilot who appeared to be emotionally disturbed contributed to a crash that killed 51 people in Kathmandu last year.
The US-Bangla Airlines Dash-8 turboprop with 71 passengers and crew on board was trying to land after arriving from the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka when it crashed and burst into flames after a series of confused interactions with the tower.
Both pilots died in the crash.
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A report released Sunday by Nepalese investigators concluded that a probable cause of the March 12 crash was “disorientation and a complete loss of situational awareness” on the part of crew members.
It found the aircraft was not on the correct approach path and this led to dangerous and unsafe maneuvers as it attempted to align with the runway.
At one stage, air traffic controllers ducked because they feared the plane might hit the tower.
The report said a landing was attempted in “sheer desperation” and no attempt was made to carry out a go-around even though one seemed possible until the last instant.
It found that pilot-in-command (PIC) was “irritable, tensed, moody and aggressive at various times”.
He also seemed fatigued due to a lack of sleep the previous night as well as due to the stress he was harboring.
The 52-year-old pilot had been released from the Bangladeshi Air Force in 1993 because of depression but had been declared fit to fly civilian aircraft.
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The report said the PIC’s “impulsive and inappropriate” behavior resulted in incomplete tasks such as not finishing the pre-landing checklist and saying he had three green lights indicating the landing gear was down when this was not the case.
It said he was insecure about his future, planning to resign from the airline but saying he did not have a job to go to, and this may have augmented his stress.
“The PIC was engaged in unnecessary conversation which was beyond the norms and violating the company SOP (standard operating procedure), ” the report said.
“This distraction, as well as stress, may have led to (an) unstabilized approach speed not under control, (an) aircraft not fully configured and (a) checklist not completed.
“He had many opportunities to correct the maneuvers if he had followed the SOP during (the) descend and approach phase.
“It seems that the PIC was trying to prove to the FO that he was indeed a good pilot, good teacher and competent in flying skill also and (he) would be able to safely land the aircraft in any adverse situation.
“The PIC’s decision to land the aircraft at any cost after sighting the runway at a very close proximity, way off the final approach course, at very low altitude and (his) decision for not initiating a go-around even after realizing that flight was not stabilized, is a very poor decision making on part of (the) PIC.”
The fatal flight was the co-pilot’s first into Kathmandu and the report said her inexperience and the captain’s higher authority probably prevented her from being assertive even though she was effectively monitoring the flight and suggesting corrective action.
Other contributing factors included a lack of assertiveness by air traffic control in monitoring the flight and failing to issue a clear instruction to carry out a missed approach.
There were also communication problems between ATC and the crew and controllers did not alert the crew to the plane’s actual position.
US-Bangla Airlines commenced operations with domestic flights on in 2014 and subsequently expanded internationally.
It is a subsidiary of US-Bangla Group, a United States-Bangladesh joint venture company.
