A malfunctioning altimeter contributed to the crash of a Turkish Airlines flight last week at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, according to Dutch authorities, who issued a warning to the plane's maker Boeing.
When flying at about 1,950 feet the plane's left radio altitude meter indicated the Boeing 737-800 was flying at minus 8 feet, prompting the automatic pilot to shut down the engines, the Dutch Safety Board said today.
"The crew initially did not react to these events," Dutch Safety Board head Pieter van Vollenhoven told reporters.
When an alarm went off that the plane's speed would drop below the minimum, the pilots reacted and reignited the engines.
"But the plane was too low at 150 metres. As a consequence the plane crashed 1 kilometre before the runway," said Mr van Vollenhoven.
Nine people, including three crew members, were killed when the plane crashed last week.
Boeing has said that a warning will be issued to all users of this type of plane to make them aware of the possible risk, the Safety Board said.