Plane crash victims mourned

ISPARTA, Turkey — Thousands of people flocked to mosques in Isparta on Saturday to pray for the victims of a deadly plane crash that killed all 57 people on board.

Investigators, meanwhile, searched for the cause of the crash, while one technician was reported to suggest pilot error could have played a role.

The Atlasjet Boeing MD-83 was flying from Istanbul to Isparta in Turkey’s southwest early Friday morning when it crashed, killing 50 passengers and seven crew members.

The weather and the visibility were good, officials said, but the aircraft suddenly disappeared from the radar a few minutes before it was supposed to land.

Military helicopters with thermal cameras spotted the wreckage on a hill about 7 miles away from the airport. Bodies strapped to seats, clothes and pieces of scrap metal were strewn across a large area.

Sefa Inan, honorary chair of the Association of Plane Technicians, said evidence suggests the crash was due to pilot error, the daily Aksam newspaper reported.

“Probably it was flying too low. I think the head pilot realized the hill was there at the very last moment,” he told Aksam.

Inan was not involved in the investigation but he said he spoke with technicians who were involved in the plane’s routine checks. He said he was told the plane had no technical problems.

Investigators found the flight data and cockpit voice recorders, the civil aviation authority said Friday. The Sabah newspaper said the recorders were sent to United States for study.

Atlasjet, a private airline established in 2001, operates regular flights inside Turkey and chartered flights to Europe and other foreign destinations.

In Renton, Boeing spokesman Jim Proulx said the company would provide technical assistance to help investigate the crash if invited by the Turkish authorities. He said the plane was delivered in 1994 by McDonnell Douglas before its merger with Boeing, and that the original customer was not Atlasjet.