Mexico crash may have been due to pilot error: report (Reuters)

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) ? Pilot error could have caused the helicopter crash that killed Mexican Interior Minister Francisco Blake on Friday, according to a preliminary investigation cited by a local newspaper on Saturday.

A preliminary report by Mexico's civil aviation authority said there was no explosion or mechanical fault reported by the pilot prior to the accident, the newspaper Reforma said.

That report also said the pilot chose to fly manually, without using instruments that would have shown information about obstacles along the route, Reforma wrote.

The fog could have affected the pilot's distance perception, causing him to crash into the hill, Reforma said, citing the report.

A spokesman for Mexico's Communications and Transport Ministry declined to confirm the existence of that report.

The ministry is expected to give a news conference later on Saturday.

Mexico has requested help from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board as well as the French office in charge of investigating civil aviation accidents, Communications and Transport Minister Dionisio Perez-Jacome told reporters late on Friday.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon said on Friday conditions were cloudy when the helicopter came down so that an accident looked probable.

The helicopter came down on a green hillside south of the capital, killing Blake and seven others on board.

(Reporting by Elinor Comlay, Editing by Sandra Maler)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111112/ts_nm/us_mexico_minister_crash

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