On February 5, 2020, a terrible accident occurred when Pegasus Airlines Boeing 737-86J type aircraft skidded off the runway at Sabiha Gökçen Airport in Istanbul. As a result of this accident, which shocked the whole country, 3 people lost their lives and 180 people were injured.
We conveyed to you that the accident report was completed last year. In this report, it was stated that 4 people, including Captain Pilot Mahmut Aslan, second pilot Ferdinant Pondaag, and an institution were found guilty, and that the landing was not carried out in accordance with the stable approach criteria. Now, there have been new developments regarding the accident.
Pilots panicked due to lightning strike
Within the scope of the investigation conducted by the Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, a 157-page accident report regarding the accident was published. According to the report, a lightning strike hit the plane 6 minutes before landing; For this reason, it was noted that the stress of the pilots increased and the captain pilot Aslan panicked and wanted to land immediately.
In addition, after the lightning struck, the technical unit was searched; However, it was stated that the speech made after there was no emergency below 10,000 feet increased the workload in the cockpit.
It was stated that the pilots did not follow the instructions
It was also stated that the pilots did not follow the instructions. According to the report, the pilots were informed that the active runway, which is suitable for the weather conditions, is ’06’; however, the pilots ignored this and prepared and descended according to the ’24’ runway. It was also included in the report that the other planes before the flight that had the accident bypassed the runway.
In addition, it was noted in the report that the pilots did not work in coordination with the tower. Among the explanations in the report were the fact that the second pilot named Ferdinant Pondaag was a Dutch citizen and therefore could not speak Turkish, could not understand air traffic conversations and could not explain the indicators on the approach line to the captain.
‘If the pilot had braked automatically, the plane would not have left the runway’
In the previously shared report, it was stated that the captain pilot braked 6 seconds late. Now it has been stated that if the pilot had braked automatically instead of manually, the plane would not have left the runway. In addition, the weather conditions worsened after landing; For this reason, it was stated that the wind speed increased and it was said that the meteorological situation was among the factors causing the accident.
Lack of safety net at the airport cause of the accident
Finally, the report noted that there was no malfunction in the fuselage or systems of the Boeing 737-86J type aircraft prior to the accident. In addition, there are no roads on the runway where the incident took place to facilitate the access of aid vehicles to the wreckage; therefore, the lack of runway extension safety net was considered among the first-class causes of accidents.
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