Posted on 03/25/2009 7:15:38 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
A pilot accused of praying when he should have been taking emergency measures to avoid a crash in which 16 people died has been sentenced to 10 years in jail by an Italian court.
Captain Chafik Gharby was at the controls of a plane belonging to the Tunisian charter airline Tuninter that crashed in the sea off the coast of Sicily four years ago. The 23 survivors were left swimming for their lives, some clinging to a piece of the fuselage that stayed afloat after the turbo-prop aircraft broke up on impact.
Gharby was at first hailed as a hero for having saved the lives of most of the passengers. But after an investigation, he, his co-pilot, and several Tuninter executives and technicians were charged with a range of offences including manslaughter.
The court in Palermo agreed with prosecutors that the chain of events that led to the crash began when a wrong part was installed in the ill-fated plane, a Franco-Italian ATR 72. A mechanic accidentally fitted an outwardly identical fuel gauge intended for the smaller ATR 42.
The plane took off from Bari, bound for the Tunisian island of Djerba, on 6 August 2005. As it flew over Sicily, its engines slowed to a halt, even though the instrument panel showed the aircraft had enough fuel left for the flight.
The judges accepted the prosecution case that the pilots, instead of making a crash landing on the sea, should have been able to glide the plane to Palermo airport. Instead, Gharby was said to have panicked. In cockpit recordings entered as evidence he was heard calling for the help of "Allah and Muhammad his prophet".
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
sounds to me like the guy freaked out. A terrible tragedy, but not necessarily anything criminal.
Most normal pilots would pray out loud AFTER they landed the stricken aircraft.
These people are kooks.
Tunisian charter airline Tuninter...
Fly the friendly skies of Tuninter!
When the going gets rough, we pray we’ll get there on Tuninter!
I don’t think I’d EVER fly an airline with “inter” in its name. No thanks.
Reminds me of the time that GM christened its first electric vehicle the “Impact.” Not exactly what I’m interested in riding around in. I heard they killed the next generation vehicle called the “Crash.”
Totally criminal. Some idiot (yes, idiot) chanting, “Allah Akbar!” while his plane crashes should be shot long before he steps on a plane. That way, only he dies.
I personally want to know if there is some “Allah” worshiper piloting the plane, before I step on.
Then again, I always wear bacon around my neck, and let the stewardesses know. I think bacon should be always served on flights, and you have to eat it before you board. Except it you pledge allegiance to Isreal.
Yeah, I can just hear the comments: “It just crashed inter the ground.”
So a poorly trained pilot panics, makes the wrong decision, and prays. the guy may be an idiot for reacting that way, but I really don’t think someone should go to jail for praying. I’d imagine you wouldn’t have the same opinion if the guy was saying “Save me Jesus!”. Also, I really think that someone should at least have a slight understanding of Islam and how it works before commenting on it. Makes discussions more intelligent.
Not me, I’d be praying the whole time I was trying to land it. If anything, this is criminal negligence, it has nothing to do with the guy praying.
Pray to yourself and man the controls.
My question is just that whether or not we would be having this conversation if the guy had been praying to another god. I really don’t think so. Sounds to me that once the engines quit, the guy had moments to decide to try to glide into Palermo or try to set it down in the ocean. Whether his making the wrong decision or not is criminal, I don’t know. I just don’t know where to draw the line on this issue. It’s a little bit difficult to find many accounts of the crash in English.
And by the way, if you’d be taken by surprise by a Muslim captain of a Tunisian airline, you’re a moron.
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