Pilots of Doomed ATR Stopped Flying to Pray

The pilots of a Tunisian plane that crashed off the coast of Sicily in 2005 have been sentenced to 10 years in jail by an Italian court. After the engines failed, rather than proceed with emergency procedures to attempt to land at the nearest airport, the pilots stopped controlling the aircraft and began praying. The plane crash landed in the Mediterranean, killing 16 passengers.

The plane's engines sputtered to a stop after the plane ran out of fuel, which was the result of the Tuninter ATR-72's fuel quantity indicator being inadvertently replaced with one from an ATR-42 a day earlier. The same court convicted five Tunisair employees with negligence and sentenced them to 8-9 years.

See here: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/ ... 3B20090325