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Bloomberg News,
Pilot Errors Led to Buffalo Crash, Investigators Say (Update2)
Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Cockpit crew errors and the captain's "startle and confusion" in response to a stall warning led to the crash of a Pinnacle Airlines Corp. plane that killed 50 people, U.S. safety board investigators said today.
Captain Marvin Renslow pulled back on the control column after a cockpit warning, sending the plane's nose up and putting the aircraft into a stall that plunged it into a neighborhood near Buffalo, New York, said Lorenda Ward, the National Transportation Safety Board's chief investigator of the crash.
Before the warning, "as the airspeed continued to slow, neither pilot remarked or took action," Evan Byrne, an agency investigator, told the board at a hearing today in Washington. Renslow's actions after the warning were "consistent with startle and confusion," he said.
The U.S. safety board, after an almost year-long investigation, plans to make a conclusion on the accident's cause at an all-day hearing. NTSB staff is proposing 23 safety recommendations as a result of the inquiry, covering issues such as flight-crew professionalism, fatigue and training, said Tom Haueter, the NTSB's aviation safety director.
"What this investigation revealed is a picture of complacency that resulted in catastrophe," board chairman Deborah Hersman said.
The plane was operated by Pinnacle's Colgan unit and was flying a commuter route from Newark, New Jersey, for Continental Airlines Inc. The crash has already spurred actions by the Federal Aviation Administration and members of Congress, who have questioned whether there are safety differences between small and large carriers.
The evening flight on Feb. 12, 2009, killed all 49 people on board and one person on the ground.
Warning System
Evidence presented at a May hearing by the NTSB revealed that the pilots let the plane, which was flying at 2,300 feet (701 meters), lose more than a quarter of its airspeed within 21 seconds, as engine thrust was reduced, the landing gear was lowered and wing flaps were extended, all in preparation for landing.
The result was a cockpit warning for an impending aerodynamic stall, a condition in which planes lose sufficient lift to stay aloft. In response, Renslow, 47, pulled the nose of the plane up and increased speed, when he should have pointed the nose of the craft down, according to NTSB evidence.
The pilot's reaction was "very unusual," Haueter said. "I quite frankly can't explain it."
Renslow "made the opposite inputs of what would have been expected," Hersman said. "Neither of them appeared to be communicating, recognizing what was going on," she said of the cockpit crew.
The pilots "knew what to do in the situation they faced that night," Colgan said in a statement today. "We cannot speculate on why they did not use their training."
Recovery Prevented
During the stall, automatic safety systems activated three times to push the nose of the plane down, and each time Renslow continued to pull back on the control column, "which exacerbated the airplane's stalled condition and prevented a potential recovery," Ward said.
Renslow and co-pilot Rebecca Shaw talked about flying experiences, careers and other matters unrelated to their tasks until two minutes before the stall warning sounded, Byrne told the board.
"There was continuous conversation," NTSB member Robert Sumwalt said. "Conversation took precedence over accomplishing flight-related tasks. Critical items were missed."
Shaw sent two text messages after she had boarded the plane for her flight, including one about five minutes before takeoff clearance, in violation of guidance from federal regulators, Byrne said.
Flight-Test Failures
Renslow had five prior flight-test failures, including two as a Colgan pilot, and two that Colgan wasn't aware of because they weren't described on his application, said Roger Cox, a board investigator.
"Everybody has a bad day now and again," Hersman said. "This pilot needed a good day to pass a test."
Colgan had the information necessary to know that Renslow needed additional training, yet the carrier at the time offered no such remedial education programs for its pilots, Cox said.
The board is examining whether fatigue and long commutes for the pilots contributed to the crash.
Shaw, 24, earned about $16,000 a year until she received a raise to $23,400 less than two weeks before the crash, according to Pinnacle. Earlier in Shaw's time at Colgan, she worked "briefly" a few days a week at a coffee shop when she wasn't flying, according to the NTSB.
Commutes and Fatigue
Shaw traveled from Seattle, where she lived with her parents, for duty in Newark the day of the accident, flying all night aboard FedEx Corp. planes to arrive just before 6:30 a.m.
Renslow also may have missed some sleep, as he logged into a company computer system at 3:10 a.m. the day of the crash, according to the NTSB. The crash occurred at 10:17 p.m., board data shows.
Colgan didn't put its pilots through simulator training on a so-called stick pusher, a stall-prevention system that automatically forces the plane's nose down to help gain speed when the aircraft is in danger of losing lift, Pinnacle said in May. Colgan pilots learn the system in classroom training, the company said.
Pinnacle has said Renslow didn't disclose that he had failed two flight tests in small planes when he applied in 2005 to join Colgan. FAA test records for such pilots aren't available to airlines unless applicants waive their privacy for prospective employers.
The FAA said in June that it was recommending that carriers ask pilots for waivers to give the companies access to all flight-test records. FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt also pushed additional carriers to join voluntary safety efforts as part of his "Call to Action" program prompted by the Colgan crash.
Lawmakers have also held hearings on the crash. In October, the House voted to increase training requirements for newly hired airline pilots, partly in response to the Colgan crash. The Senate hasn't acted on the legislation.
To contact the reporters on this story: John Hughes in Washington at
jhughes5@bloomberg.net.
Тупизна как Энтропия. Неумолимо растет.
Среди прочей на моей памяти F6F Hellcat и Piper Cruiser .
