Lao Airlines pilot told to change course : PP Post

 A Lao official retrieves window part of Lao Airlines aircraft at a plane crashed site in Mekong River, Pakse, the capital of Champasak province, Laos, 

 A Lao Airlines pilot was told to change course shortly before his turbo-prop plane slammed into the murky Mekong River in southern Laos, killing all 49 people on board, including five Thais nationals on Wednesday.

Phnom Penh Post reported today the control tower at the Pakse airport had issued the instruction to 56-year-old Cambodian-born pilot Young San as the plane was approaching to land in extreme weather.

"During strong winds, the air controller told [Young San] to change course," said Cambodia’s State Secretariat of Civil Aviation Mak Sam Ol, who has been briefed on the cause of the crash by Lao authorities.

"He followed instructions but the plane faced strong winds and it couldn’t get through," Mr Mak Sam Ol told the Phnom Penh Post.

Young San, who had more than 30 years flying experience, had worked for the airline for almost three years, the Post said.

"He had a contract with Laos's aviation [authority] for three years and had been there almost all that time," he said.

He was a former pilot with Cambodia’s defunct state carrier Royal Air Cambodge after having trained in Russia and later France.