SURAT THANI, Thailand -- As helicopters began lifting the wreckage of a Thai Airways jetliner from a swamp, aviation officials insisted Monday that an airport's lack of state-of-the-art landing equipment did not cause the crash that killed 101 people.
"The systems we have in place are capable of guiding the plane in a similar manner," said Sawat Sitiwon, director-general of the Department of Aviation.Both aviation authorities and the plane's pilot have been blamed for the crash of Flight TG261, which plunged to the ground during a heavy rainstorm on Friday in Surat Thani, 330 miles southwest of Bangkok. Searchers recovered remains of the last victim on Sunday.
Government officials and Airbus, the French manufacturer of the A310-200 plane, are investigating the cause of the accident.
Several of the 45 survivors said the pilot, who died of his injuries after the crash, should never have attempted a third landing after failing the first two times.
Blame also has fallen on aviation authorities after they admitted that Surat Thani airport's instrument landing system had been removed several months ago during renovation work. ILS equipment enables airliners to land when visibility is poor.
The removal of the ILS equipment meant the pilot would have had to land using only his eyes to see the runway.
Chamnong Sanarksorn, director of air navigation facilities at Surat Thani airport, said all airlines had been informed about the removal of the airport's ILS system.