§ 4.3 p.m.
§ Lord TREFGARNEMy Lords, with your Lordships' permission, I should like to repeat a Statement which is being made in another place by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Trade about the accident at Tenerife last Friday. The Statement is as follows:
"The House will be aware that on Friday last a Boeing 727 operated by Dan-Air Services Limited from Manchester to Tenerife crashed about 10 miles from its destination and all the 146 passengers and crew on board were killed.
"I am sure all sides of this House will wish to join me in expressing Parliament's great distress at this tragic accident and our greatest sympathy to the relations and friends of all those who were killed.
The accident occurred after the crew had reported when the aircraft was at 6,000 feet over a radio beacon at Los Rodeos airport on the northern end of Tenerife island 19 minutes after 1 o'clock in the afternoon GMT. It was then cleared by air traffic control to descend to 5,000 feet and carry out an approach procedure to the runway, but this message was not acknowledged by the aircraft and it is believed to have 1031 crashed very shortly afterwards. The accident site is about 10 miles South-West of the airport and just over 5,000 feet above sea level. The aircraft had completely disintegrated.
"The Spanish authorities have commenced an investigation into the circumstances and causes of the accident and a team of investigators from the Accidents Investigation Branch of my Department arrived at 6.30 a.m. on Saturday morning and have been participating in the Spanish investigation in accordance with established international practice. The flight data and cockpit voice recorder have been recovered from the aircraft and will be carefully examined and read out in the next few days. Similarly, the recording of the radio communications will also be subject to detailed analysis. I will give more information to the House as soon as it is available. There remains much work of investigation to be done and it is expected that it will be some time before the final report of the investigation will be completed. By international agreement a copy of the report will be passed to the State of registry of the aircraft.
"The House will wish to know that the Spanish authorities have treated this tragedy with the greatest sympathy and consideration and memorial services are being held in Tenerife today. British Consular officials and members of the Dan-Air Company are doing everything in their power to assist the official services in Tenerife with their work."
§ My Lords, that is the Statement.
§ 4.6 p.m.
§ Lord PONSONBY of SHULBREDEMy Lords, may I thank the Government for their early Statement, and also thank the noble Lord for repeating it this afternoon. We on this side of the House wish to associate ourselves with the sympathy expressed by the Government to all the relatives and friends of those killed in this appalling tragedy. Already, a number of theories have been floated in the Press as to the cause of the accident, and I am sure it would be premature to add any weight to any of those theories at this point of time. However, what we must 1032 ensure is that the inquiry is of the fullest, and that it deals with such matters as the safety of the aircraft, the landing procedures, the value of the ground proximity warning system and the limitation of the radar system at Los Rodeos airport.
The noble Lord has said that it will be some time before the final report of the investigation is received. One hopes that that will be well before the British holiday season. British holiday-makers should be reassured as to the general safety arrangements in Tenerife. I wonder whether the noble Lord can give some indication as to when the report is likely to be received? By saying that the report will be passed to the State of registry, one assumes that the noble Lord means that it will be passed to his department. I should be glad if he could confirm that. I am sure all noble Lords will be pleased to know that all concerned are doing what they can to assist the official services in Tenerife.
§ 4.8 p.m.
Earl GREYMy Lords, we on these Benches also wish to express our sympathy and to extend our condolences to the relatives and friends of those who were killed. We are grateful to the noble Lord for making that Statement. We should like to know whether the black box has been translated and, if so, what it says. Is it not time that airlines were advised to avoid airports which do not have full-scale, up-to-date navigational equipment, bearing in mind the growing increase in holiday traffic?
The noble Lord said that the aircraft was cleared by air traffic control to descend and to carry out an approach procedure, but that the message was not acknowledged by the aircraft. Is it yet clear that this was so, or whether the captain was recommended or ordered to divert and land at the alternative airport? Finally, when the official inquiry is completed, will the report be published in full, without any alterations or deletions?
§ 4.9 p.m.
§ Lord TREFGARNEMy Lords, I am obliged to noble Lords for their reception of this Statement. To answer the noble Lord, Lord Ponsonby, the report is, in fact, prepared by the Spanish authorities and thus the timing of its publication is a matter for them. However, there are 1033 British representatives accredited to the investigation team who will, of course, be assisting with the inquiry within the limits laid down under the international agreement.
As for the questions put to me from the Liberal Benches, both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder have been recovered. The playback of these devices, which is a highly technical matter, has not yet been completed. As for the other questions which the noble Earl put, naturally I do not want to pre-empt anything that is considered by the inquiry, but we understand the position so far to be that the aircraft was not instructed to divert, nor did the captain indicate that he was so doing. I can, of course, confirm that the facilities at Los Rodeos airport, although they do not include radar, are entirely satisfactory and have been approved for that purpose for many years.
§ Lord KILBRACKENMy Lords, I understood the noble Lord to say that the aircraft was flying at an altitude of 6,000 feet and that it was then cleared to descend to 5,000 feet. Am I right in assuming that that is the height above sea level, because the noble Lord went on to say that the airfield itself is at 5,000 feet. In this case, the two pieces of information do not appear to coincide.
§ Lord TREFGARNEMy Lords, I do not think I said that. The airfield is 2,073 feet above sea level, and the height of 5,000 feet, which is the height above sea level, as the noble Lord suggested, is the correct height for the approach procedure to Runway 1/2.
§ Lord BALFOUR of INCHRYEMy Lords, may I ask the Minister whether, from now on, scheduled airlines and charter companies will operate from the new airport and not from this airport at which the aircraft which crashed was attempting to land and which is admitted to be, particularly in bad weather, one of the most unsatisfactory airports for pilots to approach—and I use the word "unsatisfactory" advisedly? Secondly, assuming the unlikely event of the Spanish authorities declining to publish the findings, can the Minister say whether in that event our British representatives will be asked to give to Her Majesty's Government 1034 their information and their views on the findings?
§ Lord TREFGARNEMy Lords, if I may first answer the last supplementary, under international agreements the Spanish authorities are required to provide a copy of their report to the country of registry, and I have no doubt that they will do that. Publication by us of a Spanish report can only be done, I think, with the agreement of the Spanish authorities, but I have no reason to believe that they will withhold that permission. As for the earlier supplementary of my noble friend, I understand that it is not intended that the new airport should replace Los Rodeos, because the two airports are located at opposite ends of the island and it is proposed that in future they should each serve the different resorts nearest to them.
Lord MORRISMy Lords, would my noble friend be good enough to let me know whether Her Majesty's Government will be expressing to the Government of His Majesty the King of Spain their gratitude for the very moving expressions of sympathy by the people of Tenerife as a result of this disaster?
§ Lord TREFGARNECertainly, my Lords. As I indicated in the Statement, we very much appreciate those expressions of grief.