SilkAir crash probe focussing on pilot

SilkAir crash probe focussing on pilot

SINGAPORE (Reuters): The pilot's state of mind has become the
chief concern of officials probing the cause of a Silkair plane
crash that killed all 104 aboard, the head of the Indonesian
investigation said.

The investigation is now examining "the psychology of a man
who is doing things which you and I never think, I hope, never
think to do," said Oetarjo Diran, head of the Indonesian
investigation, in an interview with Singapore's state-run
television aired late on Saturday.

Captain Tsu Way Ming had "problems" that were
"incrementally...mounting to a certain level that might be very
difficult to overcome," said Diran in his first public comments
since an interim report on the crash was released last week.

Investigators said then that "unlawful interference" could
have caused the plane to crash in Indonesia in 1997, further
fueling speculation that Tsu may have committed suicide by
deliberately downing the jet.

The report said the Singaporean pilot had financial
difficulties and that he had been previously reprimanded three
times by the airline for improper procedures, including once for
deactivating a cockpit "black box" flight recorder.

The Boeing 737-300 had just entered service in the fleet of
the Singapore Airlines subsidiary when it plunged from a stable
cruising altitude of 35,000 feet over Indonesia on a clear day in
December, 1997.

The wreckage has revealed the plane's controls had been put
into a nose-down setting different from the cruise setting last
recorded before its "black boxes" inexplicably stopped minutes
before the crash.

But Tsu's wife told the Sunday Times newspaper that his
behavior before the crash did not indicate suicidal tendencies.
"I know for sure it is not true," Evelyn Tsu was quoted as
saying. "It's very wrong to speak like that about a dead man."

Singapore's Airline Pilot's Association also defended Tsu,
arguing that the three incidents which drew reprimands did not
jeopardize safety and did not demonstrate incompetency, state
television reported on Sunday.