Jet had repairs days before crash
 The plane crashed short of the runway where it had been due to land |
The Turkish Airlines plane which crashed into a field near Amsterdam's Schiphol airport had had repairs for a system malfunction two days earlier.
The Boeing 737-800 was briefly taken out of operation on Monday after the pilot reported a problem with the Master Caution Light, the airline said.
But Turkish Airlines said the problems should not be seen as a potential cause of the crash, which killed nine people.
On Thursday, investigators said engine failure might have been a factor.
Pieter van Vollenhoven, chairman of the Dutch Safety Board, told Dutch state television that the way the aircraft lost speed and "dropped almost vertically" from the sky suggested that its engines might have stalled.
 |  Turkish Airlines has undertaken all required maintenance work on the plane in line with the directives of the manufacturer as well as national and international authorities  Turkish Airlines statement  |
Witnesses described seeing the plane appear to glide through the air, having lost all propulsion, before hitting the ground tail-first and breaking into three pieces.
Fred Sanders, a spokesman for the Dutch Safety Board, said there were a number of things that could have led to engine failure, including a mechanical fault, a lack of fuel or a bird strike.
"But there is no indication as yet that these are a possibility," he said.
An exchange between air traffic controllers and the crew recorded minutes before the crash gave no indication of any technical trouble.
On Thursday, Turkish Airlines insisted the problems on Monday with the Master Caution Light programme, which checks the aircraft is functioning correctly, should not be seen as a potential cause.
The plane was cleared to fly later in the day after technicians replaced the malfunctioning part, it said.
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"Since then the aircraft undertook eight flights and encountered no problems," it added.
The airline said the plane also had its bonding jumper in its left Krueger flap - control surfaces on the leading edge of an aircraft wing - changed on 28 October and had continued flying without any difficulties. It also underwent routine general maintenance on 19 February, it added.
"Turkish Airlines has undertaken all required maintenance work on the plane in line with the directives of the manufacturer as well as national and international authorities," the statement said.
Dutch officials have taken the flight data and voice recorders to Paris, where French specialists are analysing them.
Mr Van Vollenhoven said analysis of the recorders might be completed as early as Friday, but that the Dutch Safety Board would probably not announce any preliminary findings until next week.
"We hope to have a firmer grip as soon as possible," he told NOS television, adding that the information retrieved from the recorders was of high quality and would aid reconstruction of the accident.
'Miracle'
The aircraft had been carrying 127 passengers and seven crew when it came down several hundred yards short of Schiphol airport's runway on Wednesday, about three hours after it left Istanbul's Ataturk airport.
| SCHIPHOL ACCIDENTS 27 October 2005: A fire at the airport's detention centre killed 11 people and injured 15 4 April 1994: Three people were killed and 13 seriously injured when a KLM flight carrying 24 people crashed on landing 4 October 1992: An El Al Boeing 747 cargo plane crashed into an apartment block after takeoff, killing 43 people |
Four Americans and five Turks died, including the captain and two other members of the crew, who had wrestled with the plane's controls before becoming trapped in the wreckage.
The Turkish transport ministry said a total of 78 Turkish nationals and 56 people of other nationalities had been on board the plane.
Theo Weterings, the mayor of the Haarlemmermeer district which includes Schiphol, said on Thursday afternoon that 63 injured passengers were still in hospital receiving treatment, six in a critical condition.
"Four of them are in such a severe condition that we have not been able to communicate with them," he told a news conference.
He said the priority was to identity the victims and inform relatives.
Turkish Transport Minister Binali Yildirim has described the low death toll as a "miracle".
"The fact that the plane landed on a soft surface and that there was no fire helped keep the number of fatalities low," he said.
Mr Yildirim also paid tribute to the efforts of Capt Hasan Tahsin Arisan, a highly experienced former Turkish air force officer.
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