Yourlawyer.com (Airplane Accidents News)

Buffalo Crash Likely Caused by Pilot Error, Insufficient Training

Tue, 12 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

There has been much ongoing speculation as to what caused the fatal Continental Flight 3407 crash that killed all 49 crew and passengers and one resident on the ground in Buffalo on February 12. Now, media outlets are pointing to grave pilot error and a background rife with incompetence, including insufficient training. The plane involved was a Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 turboprop, operated by Colgan Air.

CBS News reported that Colgan Air confirmed that captain Marvin Renslow, 47, had five unsatisfactory test flights—known as “check rides”—with two taking place during his three years at Colgan; he had a mere two months experience on the Q400 turboprop; and he never received hands-on stall warning system training in simulation. The stall warning system is critical as it was inappropriate handling of the stick shaker activation—which alerts pilots that a stall is going to occur—that is believed to have caused the fatal crash, said CBS News.

The stick pushes forward in such situations to dive the plane and pick up speed, but Renslow pulled up, which is the reverse of what pilots are taught, noted CBS, and which worsened the stall. Of note, Colgan argued that its training curriculum was reviewed and approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), reported CBS.

It has long been speculated that the plane likely dropped to an unsafe slow speed, losing critical lift in its final landing approach. The onboard stall-warning system both alerted the pilot and automatically activated the “stick pusher,” a device in which the control column is pushed forward to angle the plane’s nose down to regain speed. It was at this moment that pilot error might have occurred and when the pilot acted against established protocols, which call for pushing forward and lowering the nose to escape a stall. Instead, Renslow pulled back on the controls and added power, moves that resulted in the flight’s fatal end. By attempting to raise the nose and maintaining controls, the pilot likely slowed the plane to a dangerous level in which an aerodynamic stall would have been guaranteed.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the crash is also creating some controversy on how cockpit voice recordings are used: Colgan is looking to the recordings for future safety and discipline, while the Colgan pilot union is opposed. Transcripts of the fatal flight’s cockpit conversations are scheduled to be released today, noted the Journal, which added that those who reviewed the transcripts revealed that the “crew engaged in a prolonged chit-chat as the plane descended from cruise altitude and then prepared to land,” a violation of “basic aviation rules,” in which conversations about nonflight issues during certain flight phases is prohibited.

For instances, said the Journal, under the "sterile cockpit rule," pilots on commercial flights are banned from “extraneous conversations, especially when flying under 10,000 feet. The New York Daily News reports that, according to federal officials, “their own idle” cockpit “chatter” likely distracted the pilot and co-pilot.

To compound matters, according to the Associated Press, co-pilot Rebecca Shaw’s, 24, health and state of mind on the day of the flight are in question. It seems that although she might have been too tired to fly, she did not alert Colgan of her exhaustion; was a passenger on a red eye the night before; and was sick with a cold and congestion.

Pilot Error Likely to Blame in Buffalo Plane Crash

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Federal investigators have been analyzing the events leading up to the Buffalo, New York plane crash that killed 50 people in February, and are specifically looking at pilot training and the pilot’s responses in his final moments. Now, according to CNN, the crew might be to blame in its handling of the plane’s stall.

On February 12, the Continental Connection Flight 3407—a Colgan Air Bombardier Dash 8 Q400—crashed into a home near the Buffalo-Niagara International Airport, killing all 49 passengers and crew and one man in the house.

Apparently, the crew pulled back on the plane’s control, worsening the stall situation, said CNN citing the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and information it received from a veteran pilot.

According to investigators, said FoxNews in a report last month, the plane likely dropped to an unsafe slow speed, losing critical lift in its final landing approach. The onboard stall-warning systems both alerted the pilot and automatically activated the “stick pusher,” a device in which the control column is pushed forward to angle the plane’s nose down to regain speed. It was at this moment that pilot error might have occurred and when the pilot acted against established protocols, which call for pushing forward and lowering the nose to escape a stall. Instead, said FoxNews, the pilot pulled back on the controls and added power, moves that resulted in the flight’s fatal end. By attempting to raise the nose and maintaining controls, the pilot might have slowed the plane to a dangerous level in which an aerodynamic stall would have been guaranteed, said the Buffalo News last month.

The NTSB has not confirmed the crash’s cause, said CNN, pointing out that the cockpit voice recorder revealed that the pilot and his first officer discussed “significant” ice buildup that was forming on the plane’s windshield and wings. While such buildup can present problems, it has not been found to have any significant impact on this case, said CNN, according to the NTSB. Also, the investigation has not revealed any aircraft system failure and the NTSB reported that the “stick shaker,” or stall warning device, was also operating normally. According to a statement issued by NTSB acting chairman, Mark Rosenker, "The circumstances of the crash have raised several issues that go well beyond the widely discussed matter of airframe icing."

Regarding the stall warning, "What you don't want to do is aggravate the situation," said the veteran pilot who was speaking to CNN on the condition of anonymity because he had not sought approval from his airline to speak on the matter. "By pulling it up without adding power, you're aggravating the situation," the pilot added.

The NTSB plans on investigating, among other items, "stall recovery training." Doug Moss, a United Air Lines pilot and aerospace consultant, said the NTSB "is really looking at" this training, in particular, adding that, "It's easy to build a lot of experience in airline flying without ever getting close to the edges of the envelope," quoted CNN.

CNN noted that the NTSB confirmed that flight crew toxicology reports were negative for alcohol or illicit substances; however, the captain tested positive for Diltiazem. Diltiazem is a prescription blood pressure medication the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) permitted the pilot to use.

Some Boeing 777s At Risk for Power Loss Because of Engine Flaw, NTSB Says

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

U.S. transportation regulators are questioning the safety of some Boeing 777s built with Rolls-Royce engines. Apparently, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is not convinced that procedures recently adopted by airlines flying Boeing 777s will prevent a potentially catastrophic power loss related to a defect in the Rolls-Royce engine.

According to a report posted on Reuters.com, Boeing 777s with Rolls-Royce engines could lose power in freezing weather due to accumulation of ice in the fuel supply. The Boeing 777 engine defect has already been implicated in two accidents.

According to a report posted on TimesOnline, one occurred last January when a British Airways flight lost power in both engines during final approach and crashed at London's Heathrow Airport. The aircraft’s landing gear was ripped off, but only one passenger out of the 152 on board was seriously hurt.

According to Reuters, a Delta Air Lines Boeing 777 suffered a similar loss of engine power while flying between Shanghai and Atlanta in November. The pilot followed a standard procedure to recover engine power and landed the jet safely at its planned destination.

Following the two incidents, Boeing issued new procedures to help prevent ice accumulation, and to recover thrust in cases of ice blockage. The NTSB said that while the mandatory procedures did reduce the risk of ice blocking the fuel supply, the added burden placed on pilots who have to implement them might cause other hazards.

According to the Atlanta Business Journal, the NTSB is recommending that the Federal Aviation Administration require Rolls-Royce to redesign the engine's heat exchanger to prevent ice from restricting fuel flow. It is also recommending the redesigned part be installed within six months of its certification to fly or during an aircraft’s next scheduled maintenance.

Yet despite the urgent nature of its recommendation, the NTSB has not called for the grounding of Boeing 777s with Rolls-Royce engines That means that around 220 Boeing 777s with the potentially deadly engine flaw will stay in the air.

According to Reuters, the NTSB said that Rolls-Royce is working on the component change but it may not be ready for installation for another 12 months.

Investigators Look at Pilot's Actions in Buffalo Plane Crash

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Investigators probing the crash of Continental Airlines Flight 3407 in Buffalo, New York are taking a closer look at the pilot’s final activities. Fifty people—49 passengers and crew members and one resident on the ground—perished in the flight that went down into a house in Clarence Center in New York.

WKBW said that investigators are now looking at the possibility that the pilot’s final actions might have contributed to the accident and noted that he might have made an attempt to change the plane’s speed following activation of the automatic safety system. The change, which added power to the plane to keep it from stalling, could have been a contributing factor in the tragedy, said WKBW, which added that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said no final determination has been made, but is looking at the possibility that the pilot overreacted, said the Associated Press (AP).

Meanwhile, the AP reported that investigators have completed their work collecting human remains and are now looking at the weather, scene data, and black box information as wells as looking at the crew and working through information received from other pilots who flew near the area on the night of the crash. The automatic safety system turned on when it sensed that the plane slowed dangerously, said NTSB’s chief investigator, Lorenda Ward. It seems that the pilot then pulled back on the controls when the system was pushing the nose down in its attempt to pick up speed.

It was possible, said Ward, that the pilot pushed too hard, bringing the plane’s nose too high, said the AP; however, another NTSB spokesman, Keith Holloway, noted that it has not come to any final determination saying, “We have not concluded anything.” Investigators are working to determine if the pilot could have done anything differently, said the AP.

The NTSB has yet to find engine failure or mechanical problems to blame in the crash. What is certain, reported the AP, is that the pilot did not disengage autopilot even after “significant ice” was noted, which was in opposition to what the NTSB and the pilot’s airline suggested. According to a Newsday report yesterday, investigators said that not only does the evidence point to wing icing as playing a critical role in the crash, but that another pilot flying nearby on the same night also reported dangerous icing conditions.

The crash has been surrounded in controversy because the plane was on autopilot as it descended. When it comes to icing conditions and flying on autopilot, the NTSB and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are in disagreement, pointed out Newsday. The NTSB tells pilots to fly manually—not on autopilot—in all ice conditions, even those in which just "thin amounts of ice" are present, while the FAA maintains that aircraft are safe when flying on autopilot in "light to moderate icing," said Newsday. A change to this FAA icing certification standard is top NTSB issue, landing on its "most wanted" safety recommendations list, said Newsday.

The conflicting recommendations have caused considerable debate on planes flying on autopilot in icy conditions, said the Christian Science Monitor, which explained that some experts feeling that autopilot prevents pilots from understanding the severity of icing conditions.

Evidence in Buffalo Plane Crash Points to Ice as a Cause

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

As the investigation into the crash of Continental Flight 3407 continues to unfold, federal investigators are seeing more evidence that ice, not mechanical failure, caused the accident that killed all 49 passengers and crew and one person on the ground.

According Newsday, investigators are saying that not only does the evidence point to wing icing as playing a critical role in the crash, but that another pilot flying on the same night in western New York also reported dangerous icing conditions. Nothing indicates that the plane—a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 turboprop—experienced engine problems before it crashed, said the Associated Press (AP).

Steven Chealander, of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) spoke at a news briefing yesterday and said, "Everything that's found thus far on the engine is consistent with high-powered flight," quoted Newsday. Chealander also discussed how the plane "entered the ground, how much it dug itself in, the angles of the blades." The doomed flight crew is known to have reported icing on the windshield as the aircraft approached the airport; approximately one minute later, the craft “stalled violently and then fell to the ground from 1,800 feet in less than 26 seconds,” said Newsday.

Chealander also mentioned that within a-half hour of Flight 3407 experiencing its final difficulties, another Colgan Airlines turboprop flight reported "moderate" icing and in Dunkirk, New York, which is about 50 miles south of the crash site, yet another crew reported “severe icing," which is not only the most dangerous icing category, but one in which pilots are trained to avoid, reported Newsday. The AP is reporting that about half of the crash wreckage has been removed and that crews are hoping to have the remainder removed prior to Wednesday, when a snowstorm is expected in that area.

The crash has been surrounded in controversy because the plane was on autopilot as it descended. When it comes to icing conditions and flying on autopilot, the NTSB and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are in disagreement, points out Newsday. The NTSB tells pilots to fly manually—not on autopilot—in all ice conditions, even those in which just "thin amounts of ice" are present, while the FAA maintains that aircraft are safe when flying on autopilot in "light to moderate icing," reports Newsday. A change to this FAA icing certification standard is one of the top NTSB issues, landing on its "most wanted" safety recommendations list, said Newsday.

The conflicting recommendations have caused considerable debate on planes flying on autopilot in icy conditions, said the Christian Science Monitor, which explained that some experts feeling that autopilot prevents pilots from understanding the severity of icing conditions. It is now believed that it was the ice that caused the plane to pitch and rock dangerously in the immediate moments before crashing into a house in suburban Buffalo.

New York’s Senator Charles Schumer told Newsday that he spoke to Ray LaHood, the Transportation Secretary, to discuss the issue and said LaHood assured him that the FAA Administrator—who remains unnamed—"will be addressing this issue immediately."

Buffalo-Bound Continental Plane on Autopilot at Time of Crash

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Weather conditions, iced wings, a plane on autopilot, and conflicting signals from two federal agencies all may have contributed to the perfect storm that resulted in the crash of Continental Connection flight 3407 and the deaths of all 49 on board and one person on the ground.

Newsday is reporting that the Continental Connection Flight was on autopilot just seconds before it crashed near Buffalo, New York, citing National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) officials. Apparently the crew made its decision to engage autopilot amid conflicting signals about the use of that technology in icy conditions, which were received from two federal agencies, said Newsday. The autopilot was disengaged 26 seconds prior to the crash, which was preceded by the plane pitching “wildly” at sharp angles and then dropping 800 feet in five seconds, added Newsday. The LA Times reported that the NTSB recommends flying manually in severely icy weather.

Buffalo News reported that the plane’s landing gear were engaged one minute prior to the crash and that about 20 seconds later, the plane experienced what it described as “severe pitch and roll,” which occurred when the plane was over 2,000 feet in the air. Pitch and roll refers to when a plane experiences “violent” horizontal and vertical motions. Chealander said premlinary findings indicate that the crew described visibility at just three miles and that snow and mist were in the atmosphere, said Buffalo News. As the flight descended, the crew described “hazy conditions” and asked the control tower for permission to drop to 12,000 then 11,000 feet to avoid the dangerous conditions, said Buffalo News.

The plane, a Bombardier Q400 turboprop’s flight recorder indicates sharp pitching and severe dropping that would have, according to the NTSB’s Steven R. Chealander, caused those on board to experience G-Force activity at twice what is considered normal, said Newsday. Chealander is the NTSB member overseeing this investigation. Contintental Airlines’ Bombardier Q400 is a Colgan Airlines commuter plane.

Buffalo News reported that the plane’s flight crew experienced “significant icing” in its approach to the Buffalo Niagara International Airport, saying that "The crew discussed significant ice build-up—ice on the windshield and leading edges of the wings," according to Chealander. The plane crashed into a home in Clarence Center.

Chealander explained that a finding had not been reached regarding the ice build-up’s role, but said, "Significant ice build-up is an aerodynamic impediment. Airplanes are built with wings that are shaped a certain way and ice can change the shape," Buffalo News quoted. According to NTSB’s initial review of black box data and crew discussions, the plane’s anti-icing system had been activated, said Buffalo News. Thursday’s crash, said Buffalo News, is the deadliest since the 2001 American Airlines crash that devastated a Queens neighborhood, killing all 260 on board and five others on the ground.

Ice forming on areas on a plane, such as the wings, can cause planes to lose control, especially on smaller planes, such as the one involved in Thursday’s accident, reported USA Today, which noted that aviation regulators have not moved quickly enough on implementing improvements on ice prevention, despite suggestions from experts. Some, such as Bernard Loeb, a retiree from the NTSB and one who worked for stiffer icing rules met with arguments from Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulators who claimed that planes are adequately protected from icing. In the last decade, said USA Today, the NTSB discovered that icing prevention rules are not always adequate; also, a number of NTSB icing-related recommendations have been ignored by the FAA.

Thursday’s crash also resulted in fire damage and evacuation of many nearby homes and caused injuries to two volunteer firefighters, said Buffalo News. Now, said the LA Times, residents are up in arms over evacuations, street closures, and the media.

Continental Plane Crash Near Buffalo Leaves 50 Dead

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The crash of Continental Express flight 3407 near Buffalo, New York last night has left 50 people dead. The fatalities included all 49 passengers and crew aboard the doomed Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 74-seat turboprop, as well as one person on the ground.

The Continental plane crash occurred around 10:20 p.m. in the Buffalo suburb of Clarence. The flight, which was operated by Colgan Air, had taken off from Newark, New Jersey, and was beginning its final decent into Buffalo Niagara International Airport. The plane went down just 7 miles outside of the airport.

According to witnesses, the aircraft dove into a single family home, causing an explosion and fire and killing one resident. A neighbor interviewed by CNN said that flames shot at least 50 feet into the air. The fire burned so hot that investigators told the network that they likely would not have access to the scene until at least noon today. The only recognizable piece of the plane that remained was the tail, CNN said.

At a news conference this morning, David Bissonette, Emergency Coordinator for Clarence Center, said that firefighters were still fighting "hot spots". Crews were also working to cap-off a natural gas leak at the site of the crash.

Two other people in the house, a mother and daughter, were treated for minor injuries. Two firefighters were also treated for smoke inhalation and minor injuries, CNN said.

At the time of the accident, conditions at Buffalo Niagara included light snow, fog and 17 mph winds. According to the Buffalo News, following the crash, air traffic control at Buffalo Niagara began quizzing other pilots in the air about the icy conditions in the area. According to radio transmissions, pilots on a Delta Flight reported picking up some icing on the way down. Other pilots also reported some icing.

It is not known what role icing played in the crash of Continental Express flight 3407. Prior to the crash, pilots of the aircraft did not indicate any distress, and the flight appeared to be routine until air traffic control lost radio contact with the pilot.

According to CNN.com, the turboprop plane involved in the crash was considered one of the safest and most sophisticated aircraft of its type. At a briefing this morning, Philip H. Trenary, President & CEO of Pinnacle Airlines Corp., parent company of Colgan Air, Inc., said the aircraft was less than a year old.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has sent a "go team" to Buffalo to investigate the crash. At a news conference this morning, an NTSB spokesperson said that as far as a cause, investigators have not ruled anything out.

This is the second crash of a Continental flight since December. On December 28, Continental flight 1404 to Houston was attempting to take off from Denver International Airport when it skidded off the runway, broke apart and burst into flames. At least 37 people were injured in that crash, but there were no fatalities.

Then on January 15, a US Airways Jet was forced to crash land in the Hudson River when both engines failed following a collision with a flock of geese. All 155 passengers and crew survived the water landing of US Airways Flight 1549, which was quickly dubbed the "Miracle on the Hudson".

The crash of Continental Express flight 3407 is the first fatal crash of a commercial airliner in the United States since August 2006 when Comair Flight 5191 crashed when it attempted to take off from the wrong runway in Lexington, Kentucky.

Has US Airways Adequately Compensated Crash Landing Passengers?

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Although survivors of the dramatic January 15th US Airways crash this month have received some compensation for their troubles, some feel they deserve more, USA Today reports. US Airways sent each passenger an apology letter, reimbursement for the flight, and an additional payment for $5000, said USA Today.

The safety advocacy group National Air Disaster Alliance & Foundation, says $5,000 is insufficient. "We're grateful everyone survived, and the captain on the plane was so marvelous," executive director Gail Dunham told USA Today, "But passengers lost luggage, briefcases, cellphones, BlackBerrys, and business documents, and went through a terrific ordeal," Dunham added. Many passengers say they lost much more than $5000 in possessions and are unclear if or when they will ever receive their belongings back, said USA Today.

USA Today described one passenger who said that while it is too soon to establish the emotional toll from the crash, each flight he has been on since the has been “progressively more difficult.” Others say it will cost them much more than $5000 in possessions that were either left behind or are lost, some are considering legal action, some are waiting to see if the airline will do more, and others are concerned about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, said USA Today.

Before anything can be returned, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) needs to look at baggage and other passenger belongings to determine what they weighed on the plane, said spokesman Peter Knudson, adding that it could be "weeks or months" before everything is returned, reported USA Today. Meanwhile, US Airways Vice President Jim Olson said an insurance claims specialist is contacting passengers who will “be reimbursed for expenses or losses” above what US Airways has sent them, said USA Today. Department of Transportation regulations say airlines are liable up to $3,300 per passenger for lost or damaged checked bags on domestic flights; most carriers do not cover loss of or damage to carry-ons unless handled by a crewmember.

Just two weeks before the airbus was forced to crash land into the Hudson, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) mandated increased inspections for that plane’s engine, reported Newsday, which noted that the engine was no stranger to a type of engine stall. The same plane experienced mid-flight engine problems two days earlier, reported Newsday. And while it remains unclear if the problems are related, the engine involved seems to require more in-depth inspections due to the stall to which it is prone.

All 155 crew and passengers aboard Flight 1549, heading from LaGuardia Airport in New York to Charlotte, North Carolina, survived; however, officials report many passengers were taken to local hospitals and makeshift emergency rooms. Passengers described the experience as harrowing, said Newsday. News reports described people being pulled from the water and passengers suffering from hypothermia, and others bleeding and suffering from broken bones.

In the earlier flight, passengers described a series of loud bangs, said CNN, which added that the crew advised them that they might have to emergency land. Passenger Steve Jeffrey told CNN that, "It sounded like the wing was just snapping off. The red lights started going on. A little pandemonium was going on." Jeffrey told CNN that, "It wasn't turbulence, it wasn't luggage bouncing around. It was just completely like the engine was thrown against the side of the plane.” Another passenger described “very loud bangs and fire coming out of the engine.”

US Air Crash Update

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Last week, the second engine from the US Airways plane that was forced to crash-land in the Hudson River near Manhattan was found. Now, Newsday is reporting that flight 1549’s engine is in the process of being raised from the Hudson, say authorities.

Bloomberg News previously reported that “organic material” and a feather were found on parts of the engine, which corroborates the pilot’s report of a bird collision leading to the forced landing. The airbus’s right engine—the CFM56-5B4/pturbofan—was removed and shipped back to its manufacturer in Ohio for detailed investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), reported Newsday. Meanwhile, the left engine was located at the bottom of the Hudson River, said Bloomberg News last week, and was located in about 50 feet of water. The NTSB believes the engine shook loose on impact, said Bloomberg News.

The NTSB issued a statement last week saying the engine’s fan blades suffered “soft body impact damage” and a variety of other engine parts were “significantly damaged,” Bloomberg News reported. The organic material, which was found on the right engine, wings, and fuselage was sent to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for DNA analysis, while the feather was sent to bird experts at the Smithsonian Institute for identification, said the NTSB. The feather was found on a track for one of the wing flaps. The Washington Post reported that other physical evidence was also found and that internal engine parts, in addition to being significantly damaged, were missing.

Regarding the left engine, NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson said, "We will then get a close look at all the parts of the engine,” quoted Newsday. Also, Rick Kennedy, a spokesman for G.E. Aviation—co-owner of the engine maker, CFM International—said, "It will be about as full and detailed a disassembly as you can imagine … they will analyze everything," reported Newsday.

The left engine was sawed off of the plane; however, recovery of the right engine is more complex and has been delayed because of the equipment needed for the process, said Newsday. Police divers and a crane are needed to raise the three-ton engine, explained Chris Gardner, U.S. Army Corps of Engineer spokesman, which is assisting in the recovery efforts, wrote Newsday.

Just two weeks before the now infamous crash landing, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) mandated increased inspections for that plane’s engine, reported Newsday, which noted that the engine was no stranger to a type of engine stall. It turns out that the same plane also experienced mid-flight engine problems two days earlier, reported Newsday. And while it remains unclear if the problems are related, the engine involved seems to require more in-depth inspections due to the engine stall to which it is more prone.

Engine stalls can cause permanent engine damage, reported Newsday. The Charlotte Observer explained that compressor stalls occur when air is reversed inside the engine, such as in the event of a strong gust of wind. Some stalls can be dangerous enough to cause bending or breaking of engine blades and can shake planes to the point where instrument panels become unreadable, according to Kirk Koenig, a pilot and president of Expert Aviation Consulting, said The Charlotte Observer. Koenig pointed out that the January 13th problem could have potentially damaged the engine, making it more susceptible to the January 15th bird collision.

US Airways Plane Crashes In Hudson River

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

News headlines everywhere are leading with yesterday’s US Airways emergency crash landing into New York’s icy Hudson River. The plane collided with a flock of birds and was forced to emergency land in the waters near Manhattan, said Newsday. It seems that the collision blew both engines, said the San Francisco Gate.

Spokesman Doug Church from the National Air Traffic Controllers Association told the SF Gate that Pilot Chesley Sullenberger contacted the tower and reported a "double bird strike,”—which means that two engines were down—and saying that he needed to return to LaGuardia. The controller told Sullenberger to land at an airport in Teterboro, New Jersey, which was closer. It remains unknown why the pilot did not divert to Teterboro and Church said there was no mayday call from the plane's transponder, reported the SF Gate.

On board Flight 1549 were 150 passengers—one, an infant—and five crew members who were making their way from LaGuardia Airport in New York to Charlotte, North Carolina. According to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, everyone on board survived the crash, said Newsday. Officials reported that 73 people were taken to New York and New Jersey hospitals for hypothermia, broken bones, cuts, and/or bruises. The Weehawken, New Jersey ferry terminal quickly became an emergency medical center that treated 60 passengers, most from hypothermia, said Newsday.

Before deplaning, pilot Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III, checked the airplane twice, he told Bloomberg, said Newsday. Passengers described the experience as harrowing but orderly, said Newsday.

One passenger, Fred Berretta, told CNN he was returning home from a business trip when he heard what he described as loud banging sound following take-off, saying that, "People started praying and then there was a lot of silence and the realization that we were going down was hard to take…. The pilot told us to prepare for impact."  Berretta and some others deplaned via one of the wings, which was partly submerged in the river and becoming “overcrowded,” adding that, "It was cold. I think the initial thought was to see if the plane was sinking or if it would float. Our feet were pretty much in the water," he told CNN, said Newsday.

News reports describe people being pulled from the water by police divers, passengers suffering from hypothermia, and others bleeding and suffering from broken bones. "We're worried about heavy exposure," said Dr. Gabriel Wilson, associate medical director of St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center’s emergency room. "They were immersed in water up to their waist in the plane,” according to Newsday. "We're very concerned about traumatic injuries on top of hypothermia," said Dr. Chris McCarthy, EMS director at St. Vincent's.

Alberto Panero, a passenger interviewed on CNN, said: "I actually grabbed one of the seats and some people grabbed the inflatable ones.” Survivor Jeff Kolodjay said, "The left engine just blew" and described how people hit their heads on the ceiling at impact. "People were bleeding all over the place," he said. "A couple of ladies got some pretty bad leg injuries. "At first, it was chaos," he added, reported Newsday.

Fuel Tank Ruptured After Denver Plane Crash

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Federal transportation officials investigating last month's Denver plane crash say a ruptured fuel tank was behind a spectacular fire that occurred after the Continental airlines flight careened off of the runway and Denver International Airport. According to a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), after the fuel tank ruptured, fuel spilled onto an engine where it ignited once the jet stopped.

The Denver plane crash occurred at around 6:18 p.m. on December 28, when Continental flight 1404 to Houston was attempting to take off from Denver International Airport. The aircraft had traveled about one third of the length of the runway when it veered to the left and skidded into a ravine. At least 37 people were hurt in the crash.

The aircraft broke apart upon impact and burst into flames. The plane’s left engine was ripped away along with all the landing gear, the Associated Press said. According to airport officials, the runway was free of snow and dry at the time of the crash.

The plane’s data recorder revealed that the thrust-reversers - which are deployed to stop an aircraft on a runway - on both of the plane’s engines were activated. One of the pilots also can be heard on the recorder calling for an aborted takeoff, the investigator said.

At a briefing yesterday, Bill English, the NTSB's lead investigator on the crash, would not comment on any possible theories for the cause of the crash. However, he did say there was no indication of an engine failure at this point in the probe.

English said the NTSB is continuing its fact gathering, but said its on-scene investigation is over. A final report on the crash will likely take a year, but several interim "factual reports" without findings or conclusions could be released in six to nine months, English said.

Wind May Have Played Role in Denver Plane Crash

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Federal transportation officials are trying to determine if high wind gusts played a role in pushing a Continental airlines flight off a runway at Denver International Airport last month, injuring 37 people. According to the Associated Press, wind gusts at the time of the accident measured as high as 37 mph.

The Denver plane crash occurred at around 6:18 p.m. on December 28, when Continental flight 1404 to Houston was attempting to take off from Denver International Airport. According to USA Today, a spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said the aircraft had traveled about one third of the length of the runway when it veered to the left and skidded into a ravine.

The aircraft broke apart upon impact and burst into flames. The plane’s left engine was ripped away along with all the landing gear, the Associated Press said. According to airport officials, the runway was free of snow and dry at the time of the crash.

According to the NTSB lead investigator, the plane’s data recorder revealed that the thrust-reversers - which are deployed to stop an aircraft on a runway - on both of the plane’s engines were activated. One of the pilots also can be heard on the recorder calling for an aborted takeoff, the investigator said.

According to the Associated Press, winds around the time of the crash were at about 27 mph, with gusts to nearly 37 mph. However, the report said such cross wind speeds would not have prevented the plane from taking off, and they should not have affected the pilots' ability to control the aircraft.

In addition to crosswinds, the NTSB is looking into several other factors that could have played a role in the crash, including rudder, break and engine problems.

The Rocky Mountain News is reporting that wreckage from the crash is expected to be removed from the runway today, and will be stored in a secure location at the Denver airport.

Report Says Pilots in Denver Plane Crash Tried to Abort Takeoff

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

The pilots of a plane that ran off a Denver runway on Saturday were aborting their takeoff right before the accident. According to The Wall Street Journal, the pilots aborted the takeoff as the Continental Airlines flight was traveling down the runway at a high rate of speed, but the plane became uncontrollable and careened off the runway into a ravine.

The Denver plane crash occurred at around 6:18 p.m. on Saturday evening, when Continental flight 1404 to Houston was attempting to take off from Denver International Airport. According to USA Today, a spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said the aircraft had traveled about one third of the length of the runway when it veered to the left and skidded into a ravine. The aircraft broke apart upon impact and burst into flames. The plane’s left engine was ripped away along with all the landing gear, the Associated Press said. According to airport officials, the runway was free of snow and dry at the time of the crash.

Thirty-eight people, including the captain, were hurt in the accident. At least two were critically injured, and as of last yesterday, the captain and four other people remained hospitalized. According to CNN.com, most of the injuries were bone fractures and bruises.

According to the NTSB lead investigator, the plane's data recorder revealed that the thrust-reversers - which are deployed to stop an aircraft on a runway - on both of the plane's engines were activated. One of the pilots also can be heard on the recorder calling for an aborted takeoff, the investigator said.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the NTSB has interviewed the plane's co-pilot. He told the agency that the jet began drifting off the center of the strip as it reached about 103 m.p.h. The NTSB has estimated that the plane reached a speed close to 135 m.p.h. before it left the runway, the Journal said. Because of his medical condition, investigators have not yet interviewed the captain.

NTSB officials are still trying to determine what caused the unusual sounds, and whether any engine or brake malfunctions may have contributed to the accident, The Wall Street Journal said. So far, they have found no problems with the aircraft's engines, tires or brakes, but aren't ruling anything out.

Denver Plane Crash Investigators Say "Odd Noise" Heard Before Accident

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

A Continental Airlines jet that careened off a runway in Denver on Saturday made "an odd noise" just before the accident, investigators said yesterday. According to a report in the Associated Press, the "rattling and bumping noise" could be heard on the flight's data records about 41 seconds after the Boeing 737 started its trip down the runway at Denver International Airport.

The Denver plane crash occurred at around 6:18 p.m. on Saturday evening, when Continental flight 1404 to Houston was attempting to take off from Denver International Airport. According to USA Today, a spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said the aircraft had traveled about one third of the length of the runway when it veered to the left and skidded into a ravine. The aircraft broke apart upon impact and burst into flames. The plane’s left engine was ripped away along with all the landing gear, the Associated Press said. According to airport officials, the runway was free of snow and dry at the time of the crash.

Thirty-eight people, including the captain, were hurt in the accident. At least two were critically injured, and as of last evening, five people remained hospitalized. According to CNN.com, most of the injuries were bone fractures and bruises.

NTSB investigators have theorized that the noises heard on the data recorder indicate that aircraft may have been experiencing a problem with landing gear, tires or brakes when it crashed. Such a problem could have caused the plane's wheels to lock up, CNN said.

According to a report in The New York Times, investigators said the flight's voice and data recorders, which were recovered over the weekend, contained "good data." Conversations between the plane's captain and the first officer could be heard, the Times said.

The NTSB still has to interview the captain - who is hospitalize and in serious condition - as well as the first officer. Investigators began interviewing other crew members yesterday.

According to CNN, the NTSB could have a preliminary report on the Denver plane crash ready in about a week, but final draft could take a year.

Denver Plane Crash Injures 38

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Investigators still don't know why a Continental Airlines flight skidded off a Denver runway over the weekend. USA Today is reporting that the accident injured 38 people, but there were no fatalities.

The accident occurred Saturday evening at around 6:18 p.m., when Continental flight 1404 was attempting to take off from Denver International Airport. According to USA Today, a spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said the aircraft had traveled about one third of the length of the runway when it veered to the left and skidded into a ravine. The runway was free of snow and dry at the time of the crash, airport officials said.

The plane, a Boeing 737-500 bound for Houston, broke apart upon impact and burst into flames. The plane's left engine was ripped away along with all the landing gear, the Associated Press said. The fuselage was partially buckled and debris was strewn along the runway. The plane came to rest about 200 yards from one of the airport's four fire stations.

At a news conference Sunday, Patrick Hynes, chief of the airport division of the Denver Fire Department, said that when rescue crews arrived at the scene, they found "all chutes deployed from both sides of the aircraft, people evacuating and walking up the hillside towards them."

Hynes said the entire right side of the aircraft was in flames and "a heck of a firefight" followed. Fuel from the aircraft leaked for several hours after the accident, he said.

According to CNN.com, all 115 people aboard the Continental Airlines survived the crash. Denver airport officials told CNN that 38 people were taken to area hospitals after the accident. Most of the injuries were broken bones or bruises. Five are still hospitalized, one in serious condition. The assistant fire chief assigned to the airport told the Associated Press that it was a "miracle" no one aboard the jet was killed.

According to the Associated Press, the intense fire burned the entire right side of the plane, and caused melted plastic from overhead compartments to drip onto the seats.

NTSB investigators told CNN that they had recovered the plane's data and voice recorders, which were sent to Washington, DC for review. Investigators will interview crew members, review crew training and evaluate several factors, including the weather at the time of the crash and structure of the plane, CNN said.

Comair flight carrying 50 crashes in Ky.

Sun, 27 Aug 2006 00:00:00 -0700

A Comair flight carrying 50 people crashed a mile from Lexington's airport Sunday morning shortly after takeoff, the Federal Aviation Administration said. At least one person survived.

Comair Flight 5191, a CRJ-200 regional jet with 47 passengers and three crew members, crashed at 6:07 a.m. after taking off for Atlanta, said Kathleen Bergen, an FAA spokeswoman.

There was no immediate word on what caused the crash in a field about a mile from Blue Grass Airport. Light rain was falling at the time. The plane was largely intact afterward, but there was a fire following the impact, police said.

The University of Kentucky hospital is treating one survivor, who is in critical condition, spokesman Jay Blanton said. No other survivors have been brought to the hospital, he said.

Fayette County Coroner Gary Ginn said the passengers and crew appeared to still be on the plane and the deaths were caused either by the impact or the "hot fire" on board.

"We are going to say a mass prayer before we begin the work of removing the bodies," Ginn said, referring to the chaplains who serve the airport.

A temporary morgue is being set up at the scene and the bodies will be brought to the state medical examiner's office in Frankfort, Ginn said.

Investigators from the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board were en route to the scene, FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said.

The airport closed for three hours after the crash, but reopened by 9 a.m.

Comair is a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines based in the Cincinnati suburb of Erlanger, Ky.

The Bombardier Canadair CRJ-100 is a twin-engine aircraft that can carry up to 50 passengers, according to Delta's Web site.

The crash marks the end of what has been called the "safest period in aviation history" in the United States. There has not been a major crash since Nov. 12, 2001, when American Airlines Flight 587 plunged into a residential neighborhood in Queens, N.Y., killing 265 people, including five on the ground.

On Jan. 8, 2003, an Air Midwest commuter plane crashed on takeoff at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport, killing all 21 aboard.

Last December, a seaplane operated by Chalk's Ocean Airways crashed off Miami Beach when its right wing separated from the fuselage shortly after takeoff, killing the 18 passengers and two crew members. That plane, a Grumman G-73 Turbo Mallard, was built in 1947 and modified significantly in 1979.

The NTSB's last record of a CRJ crash was on November 21, 2004, when a China Eastern-Yunnan Airlines Bombardier crashed shortly after takeoff. The 6 crew members and 47 passengers on the CRJ-200 were killed, and there were two fatalities on the ground.

Bill Waldock, aviation safety professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Arizona, said the crash was probably engine-related.

Investigators will look at the airplane's trajectory, Waldock said. "Typically, if the airplane went almost straight down with a small impact area, that would argue loss of control," he said. "If it came in straight, and the fuselage were intact, something might have put the plane down."

4 killed in Coney Island Plane Crash

Sat, 21 May 2005 00:00:00 -0700

Four people were killed Saturday afternoon when a single-engine plane crashed on the beach in Coney Island, hitting the sand as stunned sunbathers looked on, officials said.

The four victims, all on board the Cessna 172S, were dead at the scene following the 1:30 p.m. crash at the popular Brooklyn beach, said Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Holly Baker.

Police and fire officials were at the scene, where the shattered white aircraft remained on the beach about halfway between the Atlantic Ocean and the boardwalk.

Eyewitnesses said the plane was circling above Coney Island when its engine suddenly stalled, and the aircraft quickly plunged into the beach.

The pilot tried desperately to right the four-year-old plane after it went into a tailspin, said Herbert Lecler, 51, who was fishing on the beach.

"He couldn't, and he bounced on that beach," said Lecler. Joshua McCabe, a registered nurse visiting from San Diego, was eating inside Nathan's Famous hot dog restaurant when he heard the crash.

McCabe and another witness rushed to the scene, where they found the pilot already dead and a female passenger barely alive.

Within seconds, he said, "she wasn't breathing and then she lost her pulse."

Dick Zigun, a longtime Coney Island resident who was at the crash site, said it looked like the plane had come down nose-first. "The wings are broken off, and the cockpit glass was smashed up," he said. "It didn't look like anyone could survive that."

Zigun, who has lived in Coney Island for 25 years, said it was the first plane crash on the beach that he could recall.

Several sunbathers were on the beach when the plane came down, although the Coney Island crowd was generally sparse, he said.

Police and fire officials moved quickly to close off the beach after the crash. Dozens of people were gathered along the boardwalk staring out at the wreckage, which was in sight of the Wonder Wheel attraction.

There were no reports of any injuries on the ground.

The plane was registered to RJ Ventures LLC of Paramus, N.J. Authorities did not identify any of the victims after the crash.

The crash occurred on a sunny spring day at the world-renowned beach, home to the Cyclone rollercoaster and the Astroland amusement park. The plane hit the beach near West 19th Street, close to KeySpan Park, a minor league baseball stadium.

Plane Crash Blamed On Contaminated Fuel System

Wed, 11 Feb 2004 00:00:00 -0800

The death of an Arkansas doctor whose plane crashed in a Bollinger County farm field nearly 19 months ago was due to a contaminated fuel system, according to a final investigation report released by the National Transportation Safety Board.

The accident occurred July 25, 2002, near Marble Hill, Mo. The Piper PA-30 airplane, owned and piloted by Dr. Anthony Junklin, 59, crashed during an attempted landing. Junklin reported a loss of engine power and witnesses heard engine noise when the plane began to circle over a 40-acre grass field. The engine noise stopped about midpoint through the turn.

On Feb. 5, the NTSB issued its final report, listing the probable cause as a "solid fuel system contamination resulting in a loss of engine power." Inadequate emergency procedures and the airspeed not maintained by the pilot were additional causes.

Examination revealed that the left-engine-driven fuel pump contained about a quarter cup of fuel and the right engine driven fuel pump contained less than a half teaspoon of fuel.

Both fuel selectors contained a brown-colored contaminant, which was also found on the fuel screens for both engines.

Pieces of the plane were initially taken to the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport. The engine was then shipped to the manufacturer and the rest to the insurance company.

A plane's fuel system should be drained before the first flight of each day and after refueling to avoid accumulating water or sediment, Cape Girardeau airport manager Bruce Loy said.

"You can always visually look at your fuel too," he said. "Because when you're straining fuel, you're also looking at it to see if it's contaminated and if you shouldn't fly."

Cape Air Charter owner Bill Beard agreed.

"On preflights, you drain your fuel for contaminants to ensure that the proper grade is in there ususally by color and odor," he said. "You should buy fuel from an approved aviation source. Some people use automobile fuel in their aircrafts, but most people use what is recommended by the manufacturer."

The fact that Junklin died as his plane crashed in a grassy field is puzzling to aviators.

"As long as you remain calm and follow procedures, you should be able land safely, especially if you have a wide open field to land in," Beard said.

Company Found Negligent in Carnahan Death

Fri, 16 Jan 2004 00:00:00 -0800

A Missouri jury found airplane parts manufacturer Parker Hannifin Corp. negligent Friday in the 2000 plane crash that killed Gov. Mel Carnahan and his son, and awarded the family $4 million.

The Jackson County jury awarded $3 million for Mel Carnahan and $1 million for his son Randy in compensatory damages. The jury did not award any punitive damages.

The Carnahans' attorney, Gary Robb, had asked the jury to consider awarding the family $100 million in compensatory damages.

The jury agreed with Robb's argument that a pair of vacuum pumps manufactured by Parker Hannifin failed on Oct. 16, 2000, causing a plane piloted by Randy Carnahan to crash. The crash also killed Chris Sifford, a longtime aide to the governor.

Attorneys for Cleveland-based Parker Hannifin argued that the vacuum pumps did not fail, and blamed the crash on the failure of the pilot's attitude indicator.

The indicator tells a pilot whether the plane is banking and whether the nose is high or low. That failure, on a rainy night, caused Randy Carnahan to become disoriented, the company said.

Iowa Aviation Company Accused In Minnesota Man's Death

Fri, 08 Aug 2003 00:00:00 -0700

The family of a Minnesota man who died in the fiery crash of an experimental aircraft has filed a lawsuit against a Des Moines aviation company, which the family claims improperly serviced the fuel-injection system of the craft.

Bennett Moyle, 55, of Edina, Minn., was killed in July 2001 when his experimental plane went down at a "fly in" near Oshkosh, Wis.

Moyle's family filed suit in Polk County District Court, seeking a jury trial and an unspecified amount of money.

Elliott Aviation of Des Moines services planes at airports in Omaha, Neb.; Moline, Ill.; and Minneapolis.

Moyle's plane was serviced in Minneapolis with parts manufactured by Ada, Okla.-based General Aviation Modifications Inc., which also is named in the lawsuit, said Steven Lawyer, a Des Moines attorney for the Moyle family.

Moyle's plane, a Glasair III, also known as a Stoddard-Hamilton SH3, is a small, engine-powered aircraft that is assembled by the owner with the help of a kit and instruction booklet. Before they are flown, all experimental aircraft are inspected by a Federal Aviation Administration official.

Moyle had been a member of the Experimental Aviation Association in Minnesota and was a licensed pilot.

Elliott Aviation provides parts and services for corporate and personal aircraft, said Lonnie Hoodjer, the company's business manager in Des Moines.

Hoodjer would not comment on the lawsuit.

A National Transportation Safety Board investigation found the accident was caused by an inadvertent stall and spin by the pilot. The safety board report, issued in September 2002, failed to find problems with the airplane.

"It is not uncommon that the stall-spin is a description of the flight pattern of the aircraft at the time of the crash. It doesn't necessarily tell you what causes the crash," Lawyer said.

He added that safety board findings are not admissible as evidence in civil court cases.

Jury Awards Pilot's Family $10.5 Mil.

Wed, 07 May 2003 00:00:00 -0700

A jury awarded the family of airplane pilot Larry Koppie $10.5 million for the crash that took his life in 1996 near Palwaukee Airport in Wheeling.

The airport was found liable for 90 percent of the accident for having a ditch next to the runway.

The Gulfstream-IV jet was blown into the ditch during takeoff, damaging the landing gear, the brakes and the wing flaps.

The plane took off briefly, landed near an apartment complex and burst into flames, killing the two pilots, the flight attendant and the passenger.

Families of the other three occupants of the plane have all won verdicts or settled with the airport and the companies involved.

Alberto-Culver Corp., which owned the corporate jet, was found 5 percent liable for the accident, and Koppie was found 5 percent liable.

NTSB Releases Crash Report

Wed, 16 Apr 2003 00:00:00 -0700

Witnesses to the deadly April 4 plane crash here say the twin-engine Beechcraft was flying "extremely slow" and making a turn "so sharp that the wings were vertical," before it finally slammed into a building on Nashua Street.

Although the preliminary report released Tuesday by The National Transportation Safety Board does not offer a cause for the crash that killed six people, it does include statements from 13-year-old Tora Fisher, the only person to survive the crash.

Up in the air, "everything seemed fine" during the flight, Tora Fisher told the NTSB investigators.

She said the plane was about to land when she felt it turn left, at which time the plane became "almost completely upside-down."

The plane then straightened before banking again at the same severe angle, she reported.

It then leveled out for a second, before diving "straight down" into the D-E Corp. building on Nashua Street.

Tora Fisher also told the NTSB the plane's engines operated "normally" during the flight and she didn't hear any unusual sounds.

She also said she did not see the ground during the time the pilot was performing the series of turns but did see it "just a split second before the impact."

In addition, she also said the steep turns did not concern her because she had flown with the pilot before and knew he "liked to make sharp turns."

Killed in the crash were Tora Fisher's father, M. Anthony Fisher, 52, and his wife, Anne Fisher, of New York City; the two pilots, Robert A. Monaco, 49, of Lexington, and Eric Jacobson, 30, of Peabody; Michael Campanelli, 36, of Brooklyn; and Thomas Fox, 50, of New York.

Based on the witness accounts and other information contained in the report, some local pilots speculated the combination of too slow a speed, as well as excessively steep turns, contributed to the crash.

"What would appear most likely," said Richard Bullock, owner of Bullock Charter Inc. of Princeton, "is that the pilot, for whatever reason, didn't keep up enough air speed."

One witness, who worked at the airport, said in the report the Beechcraft King Air B-200 approached the airport directly over runway 14, "going in and out of low, scattered clouds."

The witness said he expected the airplane "to go missed" (gain altitude and try another approach).

Instead, the plane made a slight left turn, then "a steep left base-to-final turn, 90-degrees wings up," before disappearing below the tree line.

This coincided with other witness testimonies, which described the airplane as making a turn "so sharp that the wings were vertical" before entering into a "nosedive."

Both Bullock and Bill Deblois, co-owner of the FCA Flight Center at the Fitchburg Municipal Airport, said Tuesday sharp banking movements, like those described by the witnesses in the report, could have exacerbated an already dangerous situation if the plane was flying "extremely slow."

"The more you turn a plane, the harder you bank it, the higher the speed you need," Deblois said.

If the airplane didn't have enough speed when making that final turn, it may have gone into a "wing stall," which could have accounted for the nosedive.

Add in weather-related factors like low clouds and possible icing conditions, and there could have been several factors that accounted for the crash, Deblois said.

He also conjectured if a witness saw the airplane go in and out of scattered clouds and fly directly over the field, it's possible the pilot may have simply "missed the airport."

If that was the case, Deblois said, the pilot could have either gained altitude and tried another approach, or flown to another airport.

Bullock said while it is too early in the investigation to rule anything out or in, that the one survivor of the flight failed to notice any problems with the airplane seems to eliminate engine failure as a likely cause of the crash.

"It sounds like there wasn't any trouble with the power plant," Bullock said. "Or that there was no serious problem that was noticed by the passenger."

The pilot, Robert Monaco, had more than 6,100 hours of total flight experience as of May 6, 2002, including 332 in the Beechcraft Air King B-200, according to the report.

His co-pilot, Eric Jacobson, had 750 hours of total flight experience as of July 2002.

NTSB investigators found that direct damage to the D-E Corp. building from the crash extended across, and including, the building's roof and rear wall.

The cockpit and forward fuselage section of the airplane were "severely fire-damaged," although investigators were able to retrieve a number of instrument indicators.

NTSB Air Safety Investigator Jill Andrews said the cockpit voice recorder also was retrieved and downloaded but "contained no useful information, unfortunately. I'm not sure why."

Andrews also said the plane's engines have been "retained for further examination" and that the NTSB will continue obtaining more information relevant to the crash investigation, including weather and radar data.

All of that information will be compiled into a factual report, then submitted to a five-member NTSB safety board, which eventually will come up with a probable accident cause. The whole process can take up to a year, Andrews said.

Aviation consultant Robert Breiling of Boca Raton, Fla., said there have been 63 accidents involving the Beechcraft Air King B-200, including 18 that were fatal.

Of the 63 accidents, Breiling said, 56 percent were "pilot-related." The remainder were attributed to weather- and maintenance-related causes, as well as other factors, Breiling said.

Airplane Manufacturer Blames Airline For Flight 587 Crash

Thu, 27 Mar 2003 00:00:00 -0800

Airplane manufacturer Airbus Industrie blamed American Airlines in court papers for improper flight operations that caused the crash of Flight 587, killing 265 people in Belle Harbor near Kennedy Airport in 2001.

According to the papers, filed this month in federal court in Manhattan, the airline failed to operate the aircraft in the manner that was foreseeable and normal or intended by Airbus.

More than 200 legal actions from victims families have been filed against American and Airbus.

Nothing Airbus did or failed to do caused the accident or any harm or injury to the plaintiffs, the papers say, referring to the victims of the crash.

Last week, the National Transportation Safety Board released its ninth update on the continuing investigation of the crash. The board has not yet determined why the planes rudder began swerving violently, eventually snapping off and causing the crash.

At a hearing in Washington last year, the NTSB presented evidence suggesting that the co-pilot moved the rudder back and forth after encountering turbulence from a jet five miles ahead. The board is still looking into the possibility of a problem with the rudder itself.

An American Airlines spokesman told the New York Post that Airbus position was ridiculous.

An Airbus A300-600 crashed on November 12, 2001, minutes after taking off for the Dominican Republic. All 260 people on board were killed, as well as five people on the ground in the residential neighborhood of Belle Harbor.

Alaska Air Is Faulted in Crash That Killed 88

Tue, 10 Dec 2002 00:00:00 -0800

Federal safety investigators said Tuesday that a lack of grease on a tail component caused the deadly crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 off the California coast, rejecting the airline's argument that the kind of grease recommended by the manufacturer was at fault.

A draft report being considered by the National Transportation Safety Board blames insufficient lubrication for excessive wear and the eventual failure of the MD-80's jackscrew, which helps move the plane's stabilizer and sets the angle of flight.

``The only factor found to explain the severe wear was a lack of lubrication,'' said Joseph Kolly, an NTSB investigator.

The plane crashed in January 2000, killing all 88 people aboard.

Safety investigators found that the airline industry uses unreliable techniques to check for wear on the jackscrew threads. The NTSB staff recommended that Boeing develop a more reliable test.

John Clark, the NTSB's aviation safety director, said the board should recommend a fail-safe device be added to the jackscrew assembly to mitigate any kind of failure. He also said the board should recommend that the inspection techniques be improved. The board is expected to vote on those recommendations on Tuesday.

MD-80 planes were built by McDonnell Douglas, which Boeing Co. bought in 1997.

Alaska Airlines spokesman Jack Evans says the company is still looking at the report and has no immediate comment.

Boeing spokeswoman Liz Verdier says the company needs more time to review the report before reacting. However, she says in the past three years a lot of effort in the industry has been put into making improvements to make sure that kind of accident doesn't happen again.

``Those areas have mainly been in operations and maintenance where improvements have been made and relayed to the customers to improve the industry's safety level,'' she said.

On its employee Web site, however, the airline said it expected the failure of the jackscrew assembly to be cited as the cause ``with emphasis on Alaska's maintenance practices at the time of the accident.''

The notice said the final report may include recommendations and that it was likely that many, if not all, have been implemented.

Flight 261 took off from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on Jan. 31, 2000, with scheduled stops in San Francisco and Seattle. The pilots reported problems with handling and were planning to make an emergency landing in Los Angeles when the stabilizer broke off, causing the plane to roll over and dive into the ocean, killing the 88 people on board.

Crash investigators later concluded the jackscrew mechanism jammed soon after takeoff.

Alaska Airlines has said the jackscrew failed because of extreme wear caused by a kind of grease recommended by Boeing. The airline also blamed the design, saying the threads on the nut of the jackscrew assembly failed.

Boeing spokeswoman Liz Verdier said the company will wait for the final report before commenting. However, Boeing previously has said that the jet that crashed went ``an extended period without adequate lubrication.''

Initial investigation of the crash indicated that the Federal Aviation Administration overlooked problems with Alaska Airlines' maintenance program.

After the disaster, the FAA thoroughly reviewed the airline's maintenance practices and recommended that the carrier not be allowed to maintain its own planes if problems weren't fixed, said FAA spokeswoman Diane Spitaliere.

The FAA now has 27 people overseeing Alaska Airlines, three times the number as when Flight 261 crashed, Spitaliere said.

The NTSB found this spring that Alaska maintenance workers continued to make errors in inspecting the wear on the jackscrew and failed to lubricate flight control components properly.

``That's worrisome to us,'' Clark said.

The FAA also reviewed the maintenance programs of nine major airlines and reported in February that the carriers had made improvements.

The Transportation Department's inspector general, though, reported in April that the FAA's examiners were inadequately trained and that the agency needs to do a better job identifying safety problems.

The inspector general is auditing whether the FAA sufficiently monitors airplane repairs not conducted by the airlines themselves.

In addition to the NTSB inquiry, Alaska Airlines and Boeing face wrongful-death lawsuits that are scheduled for trial in April.

NTSB Probing Tail of Another Plane

Tue, 01 Jan 2002 00:00:00 -0800

The tail of another American Airlines Airbus A300-600 may have survived the same forces that downed Flight 587, the National Transportation Safety Board (news - web sites) said.

The NTSB (news - web sites) is re-examining a May 1997 incident involving American Flight 903 at it neared the West Palm Beach, Fla., airport. The board is looking at the data to see whether the tail of that plane experienced the same stress as the vertical stabilizer on Flight 587, which broke off before the crash.

Flight 587 crashed in November 2001 shortly after taking off from Kennedy Airport. The crash killed all 260 people on board the plane and five on the ground.

In the case of Flight 903, the tail did not fall off as pilots used the rudder to try to steady a plane veering up and down and from side to side for about 34 seconds. One passenger was seriously injured and one flight attendant received minor injuries. The safety board said the pilots failed to maintain an adequate speed.

NTSB spokesman Ted Lopatkiewicz said board investigators decided to re-examine the 1997 incident as they discovered that moving a plane's rudder in one direction, followed by a sharp movement in the other direction, could break off the tail fin. The NTSB issued such a warning earlier this month.

Airbus and American Airlines have removed the tail from Flight 903 and are going to use ultrasound to see if there is any damage to the vertical stabilizer. Lopatkiewicz said the NTSB asked the companies to do more than a visual inspection of the tail, and they decided to take the tail off.

The board also said all the major parts of the Flight 587 plane either had been on the plane since it came off the assembly line or came from the original manufacturers. None came from secondary sources. In January, Italian police seized Airbus parts that were suspected of being falsely certified as new or properly inspected. Some of those parts were supposedly earmarked for the United States.

NTSB Reveals Flight 587 Failures

Tue, 18 Dec 2001 00:00:00 -0800

Two components that help pilots control an airplane didn't work during a preflight check of American Airlines Flight 587, the National Transportation Safety Board reported Tuesday. The plane crashed last month soon after taking off from Kennedy Airport.

The maintenance log reported problems with the pitch trim, which helps keep the nose in an up or down position, and the yaw damper, which uses the rudder to keep an airplane from swaying.

The problem was corrected when a mechanic reset the computers that control the components, according to the log.

Aviation consultant Jim McKenna said safety investigators will focus on those components of the Airbus A300-600. ``They'll take a very close look at it,'' McKenna said.

``This is drawn from things that we handed over to them, so it's something we knew about,'' American Airlines spokesman Tim Kincaid said. ``We're cooperating fully with the investigation.''

The NTSB said that the vertical stabilizer - or tail fin - and the attached rudder fell off the plane, as did both engines. The Nov. 12 crash killed all 260 people on board and five on the ground.

Following the accident, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered inspections of the tail, which is made from lighter-weight, nonmetallic composites.

The NTSB is conducting ultrasound and other inspections of the vertical stabilizer and rudder, and is developing a plan for additional tests of the composites.

Maintenance records showed that the vertical stabilizer and rudder last were inspected visually in December 1999, and no problems were reported, the NTSB said.

Board investigators reported that they found no evidence that the engines broke apart, sending shrapnel into nearby control systems, nor any evidence of a collision with a bird. There also was no evidence that there was a fire or a malfunction.

NTSB investigators again reported that they have found no evidence of a terrorist attack. All the evidence continues to indicate that the crash of Flight 587 was an accident, the board said.

Medical Advice for Commercial Air Travelers

Mon, 14 May 2001 00:00:00 -0700

Family physicians are often asked to advise patients who are preparing to travel. The Air Carrier Access Act of 1986 has enabled more passengers with medical disabilities to choose air travel. All domestic U.S. airlines are required to carry basic (but often limited) medical equipment, although several physiologic stresses associated with flight may predispose travelers with underlying medical conditions to require emergency care. Recommendations for passengers with respiratory, cardiac or postsurgical conditions must be individualized and should be based on objective testing measures. Specific advice for patients with diabetes, postsurgical or otolaryngologic conditions may make air travel less hazardous for these persons. Air travel should be delayed after scuba diving to minimize the chance of developing decompression sickness. Although no quick cure for jet lag exists, several simple suggestions may make travel across time zones more comfortable.

Family physicians are frequently asked to make recommendations to patients before they travel aboard commercial aircraft, and the need for such advice is also increasing. The need to understand basic aerospace physiology has been accelerated by the growing number of passengers who use commercial air travel and, in particular, the increasing number of elderly, disabled or chronically ill passengers. Although commercial air transportation is very safe compared with other forms of transportation, both environmental and health concerns must be considered when counseling patients who are about to travel by air.

On-board resources for a medical emergency during flight are severely limited, and the only medications consistently carried on U.S. aircraft are epinephrine, diphenhydramine (Benadryl) and nitroglycerin.

The Air Carrier Access Act of 19861 required the U.S. Department of Transportation to develop regulations to ensure that persons with disabilities are treated without discrimination in any way, consistent with the safe carriage of all passengers. Because of Air Carrier Access rules, people with medical conditions who might not have selected airline travel in the past are now regularly attempting to use this mode of transportation. However, if legitimate medical acceptance issues arise, a medical certificate from the treating physician stating that the passenger is medically stable for air travel and will not require extraordinary medical assistance during the flight may be required. This request for a medical certificate is based on information provided by the passenger regarding a specific health condition or may be required when an arriving passenger is visibly ill. The Aerospace Medical Association (telephone: 703-739-2240) monograph "Medical Guidelines for Airline Travel"2 is a useful guide for physicians providing these determinations.

In-Flight Resources

Contents of Airline Emergency Medical Kits*

Item/Quantity Sphygmomanometer/1
Stethoscope/1
Oropharyngeal airways (3 sizes)/3
Syringes (different sizes, 2 sets)/4
Needles (different sizes, 2 sets)/6
50% dextrose injection, 50 mL/1
Epinephrine 1:1,000, single-dose ampule/2
Injectable diphenhydramine (Benadryl), single-dose ampule/2
Nitroglycerin tablets/10
Instructions for use of medications/1
Protective latex gloves or equivalent/1 pair

*--As required by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Federal Air Regulations (FARs) require all U.S.based airlines to carry a basic emergency medical kit with specified contents (Table 1), as well as a first-aid kit for emergencies that may occur during flight. However, the contents of the kits are limited and are intended for basic emergency treatment only, not to sustain or treat critically ill passengers on extended flights. The medical kit may be opened during flight only when authorized by a physician, either on board or from the airline's medical department connected to the aircraft via air-to-ground communications. In addition, a number of airlines have installed automatic external defibrillators on board aircraft and have trained flight attendants in their use. The Aviation Medical Assistance Act of 19983 requires the Federal Aviation Administration to study the additional medical equipment and training that should be required based on analyses of the frequency of medical incidences encountered and to issue a future Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to modify the current FAR. Some airlines have begun installing enhanced medical kits containing a wide variety of acute cardiac life support drugs and equipment to aid in medical emergencies.

Oxygen

Supplemental oxygen is available on an emergency basis during flights but often is limited to flow rates of 2 and 4 L per minute, and the supply is strictly limited. Passengers with stable medical conditions requiring low-flow oxygen cannot bring their own oxygen on board, according to FARs concerning hazardous cargo (empty oxygen containers are allowed to be transported as baggage). Most air carriers will provide oxygen, either with adjustable (2 to 8 L per minute) or nonadjustable (low flow at 2 L per minute or high flow at 4 L per minute) flow meters. There is a fee for this service, either charged per unit of oxygen used or per ticket coupon (one coupon per boarding), and a minimum notice of 24 to 48 hours or longer is required, along with a medical certificate from the passenger's physician certifying that the person is medically cleared to fly at a relative cabin altitude of 8,000 feet and specifying the flow rate, whether intermittent or continuous, and type of delivery mask (face mask or nasal cannula) to be used.

Passengers who require oxygen for stable medical conditions cannot bring their own supplies and equipment and must arrange for oxygen to be made available on board, at layovers and at final destinations.

Oxygen is supplied as either large-cylinder (3,228 L) or small-cylinder (300 L) compressed gas.4 Passengers must arrange for oxygen to be available during airport layovers by contacting a local supplier in the layover city or through their home oxygen service, with advance notice of at least 24 hours to ensure delivery. Other types of medical respiratory equipment, such as nebulizers or pediatric mechanical ventilators, may sometimes be allowed to be used on board, but their usage must be pre-approved to prevent interference with sensitive aviation electronic equipment and must conform to applicable FARs specifications.

Environmental Factors

Although flying is generally a safe and comfortable method of transportation, several environmental and physiologic stresses may be encountered in modern commercial aircraft. These include but are not limited to preflight activities, lowered barometric pressure and partial pressure of oxygen, sustained periods of noise and vibration exposure, turbulence, variable air circulation, environmental temperature changes, low humidity, disruption of circadian rhythms, sustained periods of postural immobility and varying exposure to low-level radiation.5 In addition, smoking during flight is still allowed by many international carriers, although smoking is banned on all domestic flights in the United States. Factors such as length of flight and class of ticket purchased must be considered in assessing the impact of these environmental and physiologic stresses.

Commercial air travel is inadvisable for anyone with a preflight sea level PaO2 measurement below 68 to 70 mm Hg, unless supplemental oxygen can be arranged.

Oxygen Requirements

Commercial jet aircraft maintain a relative cabin altitude between 5,000 and 8,000 feet during routine flight, with the FARs specifying that an 8,000-foot environment be maintained even at the highest operating altitude.

At Least 113 Die In Concorde Disaster

Tue, 25 Jul 2000 00:00:00 -0700

All 109 people on board an Air France Concorde jet that crashed shortly after takeoff near Paris Tuesday are dead, French police said. The plane, chartered by a German tour company, was headed for New York when it struck a hotel, killing at least four people on the ground.

EYEWITNESSES told reporters that Flight 4590 took off just after 5 p.m. local time from Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport and was struggling to gain altitude. A Concorde pilot said it appeared the Air France plane had engine failure, adding that just after the plane left the ground, its nose pitched up straight and then the jet fell to the left and crashed into a hotel.

Sid Hare, a Federal Express pilot at a hotel nearby, said he could see smoke trailing from two engines. "It started rolling over and backsliding down to the ground," he said. "It was a sickening sight, just a huge fireball."

Firefighters were pouring streams of water on the completely blackened hulk of the plane, which is barely recognizable. Clouds of smoke continued to billow over the site hours after the crash.

Aviation Week reporter Jim Asker told MSNBC Cable that the accounts by a Concorde pilot who saw the crash suggest it was due to engine failure, but what caused it would take time to investigate.

French officials said the plane had at least three children on board.

GERMAN TOURISTS ON BOARD

NBC's Amy Roth Turnley reported from Paris that eyewitnesses said the force of the crash was intense.

The jet, loaded with 19,500 pounds of fuel, crashed into the Les Relais Bleus Hotel, which has 72 rooms as well as studio apartments. It is a moderately priced hotel typical of small hotels near airports.

Earlier in the day, there were reports that there was one survivor but NBC's Jim Maceda said the possible survivor was one of five people inside the hotel restaurant - not the plane.

In Washington, President Clinton said he "wanted to extend the deepest condolences of the American people to the families of those who are lost."

The plane had been chartered by Deilmann, a German tour company, and the passengers were on their way to New York to join a cruise ship in New York harbor, the M.S. Deutschland.

Deilmann runs a 14-day cruise that includes stops in Norfolk, Port Canaveral, Nassau, Havana, Playa del Carmen, Mexico, San Andres Island, Colombia, the Panama Canal, and Manta, Ecuador.

The passengers were to board the ship at 4 p.m. Tuesday and had the options of visiting Niagara Falls, the United Nations, the Empires State Building, the World Trade center, and have a musical performance before the ship's departure two days from now. Cost of the cruise ranges from $4,300 to $12,600.

The Concorde, which crosses the Atlantic at 1,350 mph, has been considered among the world's safest planes, although its fleet is aging. The first Concorde plane flew in 1969 and Air France and British Airways are the only operators, flying 13, including the one that crashed Tuesday.

The plane is popular with celebrities, world-class athletes and the rich. It flies above turbulence at nearly 60,000 feet, crossing the Atlantic in about 31/2 hours, less than half that of regular jetliners. A roundtrip Paris-New York ticket costs about $9,000.

PAST INCIDENTS

Air France officials have said in the past that their current fleet is fit to fly safely until 2007.

The planes have some of the best pilots in the world and are meticulously maintained. The Concordes' only scare came in 1979, when a bad landing blew out a plane's tires. The incident led to a design modification.

On Jan. 30 of this year, a Concorde aircraft made an emergency landing at London's Heathrow Airport - the second such landing within a 24-hour period by one of the supersonic jets. A cockpit alarm had sounded, warning of a fire in the rear cargo hold, but engineers found no problem.

The previous day, one of four engines had shut down on a Concorde as it approached Heathrow.

On Monday, after British Airways grounded one of its Concordes because small cracks spotted on its wings had grown longer, Air France said it too had detected cracks in the wings of one of its Concordes, but added there was no danger to passengers. An Air France spokeswoman said "microcracks" had appeared on four of the airline's six Concorde aircraft a few months ago.

Two of the four affected planes were currently in service and the other two were grounded for an unrelated, periodical review.

The spokeswoman said the cracks were under control and Air France's president on Tuesday denied the cracks had anything to do with the crash, suggesting instead it was engine failure.

At British Airways, engineers detected 2-inch cracks in the rear-most wings of the entire seven-plane fleet a few months ago, company spokesman Peter Middleton said. After ultrasonic testing and consultations with aviation authorities, all seven planes were allowed to remain in service, he said.

"It was not a major structural element of the wing," Middleton said. "It was declared not safety critical."

But the crack in one of the planes' wings was found to have grown to 2.6 inches last week, forcing the company to ground it for maintenance repairs. It is expected to return to the skies by September.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Airplane Accidents Lawsuit Plane Crash Lawyer Attorney

Tue, 25 Jul 2000 00:00:00 -0700

Airplane Accidents

Keywords: Airplane | Lawsuit | Crash | Accident | Plane | Lawyers | Attorneys | Injured | Injury
Sometimes it is difficult to remember that air travel is consistently the safest way to travel long distances. Unfortunately no means of transportation is completely risk free and like other modes of travel, airplanes are not immune from tragic accidents. A variety of problems can occur that result in an air accident including mechanical problems and pilot error.

The law suits that result from airplane crashes are quite complex and unique. Lawyers representing plaintiffs typically crash survivors or family members of deceased crash victims in airplane cases face a variety of complicated issues. It is important that you choose a law firm that has extensive experience representing air accident victims and their families and that has consistently achieved the best results for its clients.

Our attorneys have substantial experience representing victims of aviation tragedies. Our attorneys have successfully represented victims of several high profile tragedies, including the: 1992 US Air Crash, 1995 Tower Air Crash, 1996 TWA Crash and 1999 Egypt Air Crash.

If you or a loved have been injured in an airplane accident, please fill out the form at the right for a free case evaluation by a qualified personal injury attorney.