pheeew! i just thought KQ had downed another one!

What's even worse are the racist comments and ignorance of the readers.

"A summary of the pilot’s proficiency checks in the five years before the crash makes astonishing reading:

- November 2002: “inadequate knowledge of procedures and airplane systems”; deemed unsatisfactory

- August 2003: “urged to be more attentive to checks and provide more consistent briefings”

- February 2004: urged during simulator-training to analyse his failures

- July 2004: “lack of understanding following airplane systems”

- July 2005: deficiencies in his familiarity with airplane systems

- August 2006: “below standard for a captain”; a review of his entire training was necessary “to see if complacency or incompetence is the issue”.

The captain’s overall performance was below average but “acceptable” – the second lowest of Kenya Airways’ four rankings – but there was no evidence he had been re-trained.

The co-pilot, meanwhile, had been “unsatisfactory” in his radiotelephony test in August 2003 and had to re-take it; in September 2005, his instrument rating test was “unsatisfactory” and had to be repeated. "


You simply can't have 2 such men in one plane. it's absolutely professional negligence.

"Delayed on the runway at Douala by thunderstorms, the plane never received final take-off clearance. Just after midnight, it took off anyway. " Another example of professional negligence

Sad to know how the pilot's 10 tonne ego lead to the crash.

...and if you talk with those in the aviation industry, you will realize that the aircraft manufacturers (boeing and airbuses of this world) will do anything possible (and they have the muscle) not to have any blame of the aircraft in the final report, the captain/FO in most cases are always already dead.....no harm in blaming them for everything!!!!

True my brother.... Airbus and Boeing will do all it takes to cover their A**es any day especially if the Pilot is gone. There must have been a problem with the plane. MUST have been. As they say of Aircraft accidents , there is never ONE single cause for a plane to crush but a series of errors over time...If you understood the myriad of checks and balances that plane had, and given that it was hardly 6 months old, my take is that there was a problem with the plane itself.

Unfortunately, this crash somehow mirrored the Adbijan crash of 2000.

In the first case, according to all the data received from the FDR and CVR, an erroneous stall warning just on lift-off led to the crash. By itself, the warning should not have caused the flight to crash. What caused the flight to crash was that none of the two pilots (the co-pilot was the one flying) were looking at their instruments (specifically, the altimeter). If one reads the extract from the CVR, you can quite clearly hear in the background the radio altimeter counting down, a fact the captain realized at the last minute. This accident was classified as a “Controlled Flight into Terrain”.

In KQ507, the plane’s autopilot was not switched on, even though the captain gave the order. The co-pilot did not switch it on and the captain assumed it was on. He then let go of the controls, the plane started banking to the right (natural tendency), and when the bank-angle warning came on, reacted in panic. The rest, as they say, is history.

The racist comments should be disregarded. When the Tenerife collision between a KLM Boeing 747 and PAN AM Boeing 747 (both crews 100% muzungu) took place in 1977, the accident which claimed over 580 people was caused by the KLM captain’s decision to take off with any authorization from the tower, leading to his plane hitting the PAN AM flight which was still on the foggy runway. KLM’s first action was to run and get their most senior decorated Boeing 747 training captain, who had been heavily used in promotions etc to make a statement.

He was the captain of the ill-fated flight.

IMHO, the kind of pilots(may be not the majority) we have are the problem. Their arrogance is imeasurable, to hear pilots referring to passengers as Fu**ers and so many other derogatory terms, while drinking themselves stupid in a bar, is so sad. These are young men who are in the aviation industry just because their folks are rich and can pay for the training. It pays to be humble.

@Ric dees,
I wish you could get to specifics as your claims above for me are very far fetched, Boeing, Rolls Royce and GE all have representatives sitting at KQ offices and thwarting any issues that arise.

FYI: In aviation there are clear means and ways of enforcing any advice from manufacturers.

This is quite chilling