Windscreen of Villa Air flight broke due to the negligence of the pilot: State

The windscreen of the Villa Air flight broke due to the negligence of the pilot, and not due to natural causes, the State has said.

The State said this at the trial held to address the case submitted by Villa Air to Civil Court, arguing that the order by the Civil Aviation Department to discontinue the operation of Villa Air is in conflict with the law.

The Deputy Solicitor General of the Attorney General’s Office Ahmed Husham, who represented the State at the trial, said that the windscreen of the Villa air plane broke due to the pilot switching off the heating panel of the plane, and that this was noted by the Audit Inspection done by a team of the Ministry.

He said that Villa Air was informed on 27 September 2011 when they were given the authorization to operate flights, that an Audit will be conducted, and that Villa Air themselves had requested this Audit.

He further said that when the windscreen broke, recommendations were made to correct three things, and authorization to operate flights was granted again within 24 hours when these requirements were met. The disruption of two other Villa Air flights were requested because those planes were of a similar model as the one of which the windscreen broke.

Today’s trial was concluded by the Civil Court Judge after giving the opportunity to Villa to respond to the case made by the State.