A Hong Kong-bound flight hit severe turbulence that injured 12 cabin crew partly because the pilots had not been properly trained to use the weather radar, a report carried by Deutsche Press Agentur (dpa) said Friday. The Dragonair Airbus A300 with 236 passengers on board was flying from Kota Kinabalu on July 18, 2003, when it was jolted violently for 30 seconds after hitting a tropical storm west of Manila. Flight attendants were serving meals at the time of the incident and some were thrown to the ceiling of the plane as it dipped and lurched. Two suffered serious injuries. A two-year investigation into the incident by Hong Kong's Civil Aviation Department concluded Friday the 55-year-old captain and his 23-year-old co-pilot were not properly trained to use the radar. Although the pilots detected the storm clouds ahead and changed direction, the weather radar antenna was set at the wrong angle, investigators found. The accident report released Friday describes how the cabin crew were "thrown into the air, some hitting their heads again the ceiling panels then crashing to the floor". The report concluded that the pilots had the radar antenna set at an incorrect angle which "precluded optimum detection and indication of the position and intensity of the weather in the vicinity of the aircraft". -- SP 0011 Local Time 2111 GMT
