"Spilled coffee" forced president's plane to turn back

"Spilled coffee" forced president's plane to turn back

This caused the plane to start losing altitude, when engine number 3 shut down before it was reinitatied a few minutes later, the ministry said, quoting statements from the pilot and his copilot.

The documents said that they "quickly regained control over the aircraft."

The pilot has been suspended from duty for "departing from regulated rules and procedures, in this way endangering flight safety."

According to media reports last week, the government-owned Falcon, en route to Rome, turned back because of engine failure that ocured when it was over the Adriatic. The president canceled his official visit to the Vatican.

After the plane returned to Serbia, a planned test flight was canceled "because of insufficient pressure in the fuel pump." It was then decided, in consultation with the Civil Aviation Directorate, to send the plane to Basel, Switzerland, "for additional checks."

The ministry said that what it published on Monday was a part of the documentation and that a complete report would be published "most likely on Tuesday."

Pilot error

The airplane that recently carried Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic to Vatican returned to Belgrade as the pilot accidentally toggled the emergency slot extension switch, reads the official report of the Civil Aviation Directorate of the Republic of Serbia, Tanjug reported.

The pilot and co-pilot stated in the report that the switch was accidentally activated after coffee was spilled on the instrument panel.

After that, the plane started losing altitude, but control of the aircraft was rapidly established, the pilot and co-pilot said.

By the decision of the Directorate, Pilot Bojan Zoric is suspended as of 20 April, as he "unintentionally and mistakenly extended the slats at an altitude of 34,000 feet, which led to an immediate threat to the safety of air traffic."

The Directorate also stated that the plane was checked after the incident, but that test flight was not performed due to inability to start the engine 3.