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Niall Fraser

Stella Lee

The pilot of the China Airlines jet that crashed at Chek Lap Kok on Sunday killing two people and injuring 212 has been suspended from duty and grounded in Hong Kong until investigators have finished questioning him, it emerged yesterday.

 Captain Gerardo Lettich, who faces allegations that communication problems with his Taiwanese co-pilot led to Flight CI642's crash landing, was tracked down to his hotel room by the South China Morning Post.

 A China Airlines spokesman said Captain Lettich and co-pilot, Liu Cheng-hsi, 36, were suspended for the duration of the investigation and would have to stay in Hong Kong for as long as the investigators needed them.

 Captain Lettich slammed the door and refused to answer questions at the hotel, where top US National Transportation Safety Board investigator Robert Benzon is also a guest.

 Looking relaxed and smoking a pipe, the 58-year-old Italian slammed the door to his room at the Regal Airport Hotel when asked to talk about the controversy.

 It is understood he has been ordered not to speak publicly despite allegations over his decisions on the night of the accident.

 But he has spoken to crash investigators.

 On Monday, citing a briefing from the co-pilot, the deputy director-general of Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA), Chang Kuo-cheng, alleged Captain Lettich had ignored a call to 'go around' as the plane tilted at an angle of 15 degrees on its approach.

 On Tuesday, Mr Chang said there may have been 'communication problems' between the captain and his co-pilot.

 Captain Lettich is employed by an Irish company, PARC Aviation, which rents out crew to airlines. He began his contract with China Airlines in 1997.

 Last night, PARC Aviation's Dublin-based chief executive, Tim Shattock, said Captain Lettich was the first pilot on its books who had had an accident.

 'He is an experienced pilot with more than 33 years of accident-free service with a major European carrier,' Mr Shattock said.

 PARC Aviation has 400 pilots working on airlines around the world.

 The spokesman for China Airlines said yesterday that Captain Lettich and his co-pilot would still be paid, as their suspension was not a penalty.

 He added that crew members found to have committed serious mistakes could lose their jobs.

 'It'll depend on the seriousness of the case,' he said.

 Airport Authority members are expected to discuss the accident at their monthly board meeting today.

 The China Airlines spokesman said compensation would have to be paid to the Taiwanese Government or the CAA which rented the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 to the airline.

 The CAA bought the plane for US$110 million (HK$853.6 million) in 1992.

 Mr Chang said on Tuesday that Captain Lettich had been misled into thinking that crosswinds were within a safe velocity of 24 knots when he decided to land.

 Mr Chang said Mr Liu told Captain Lettich that the northwesterly crosswinds were blowing at 22.7 knots when the real speed was 26.3 knots.

 Landing could have been problematic if the winds were above 24 knots. Mr Liu's report also suggested communication problems between the captain and his co-pilot.

 Captain Lettich was said to have ignored a call from Mr Liu to abort the landing.

 Thirty-six of the accident victims remained in hospital last night, two of them in critical condition.



Italian captain and Taiwanese colleague told to stay in SAR for questioning