1. Introduction 1.1 About the assignment In international air transportation, airline flight operations play a critical part in ensuring passengers and cargo arrive at their destinations safely and on time. Having seen Crossair flight 3597’s crash, the objective of this assignment is to analyse the factual information, causes of the crash and thus learn valuable lessons from the errors committed that led to the crash. 2. Facts of Crossair flight 3597 2.1 About Flight 3597 Crossair Flight 3597 was a scheduled flight from Berlin-Tegel, Germany to Zurich in Switzerland on 24 November 2001. 28 passengers, 3 flight attendants and 2 flight crew were on board. The commander was the Pilot Flying (PF) and the first officer is the Non-Pilot Flying (NPF) or the support role of monitoring and handling radio communications. 2.2 Approach type Events relevant to the accident started when Crossair flight 3597 received clearance to commence an approach to runway 28, Zurich Airport, at 20:58:50 UTC. At Zurich Airport, runway 28 was not equipped with an Instrument Landing System (ILS); the pilots must fly a non-precision or VOR/DME approach. The approach sector was not fitted with a minimum safe altitude warning system (MSAW) which triggers an alarm if a minimum safe altitude is violated. The range of the hills which the aircraft crashed into was missing on the approach chart used by the flight crew. 2.2 Weather The weather conditions, particularly runway visual range, was measured by the airport from a station distant from runway 28, thus did not accurately reflect the actual visibility. The flight ahead of Flight 3597 advised that the weather condition was near minimums- they were not visual with the runway until the very last m... ... middle of paper ... ... importance of flight crew training, especially CRM and aviation discipline, as well as flight crew scheduling. Crossair’s training department should have administered skill tests on pilots. Even the most routine procedures and most basic standards must be carried out with care and concentration because safety is in everyone’s hands and there is no room for mistakes in the entire flight operations. 5. References 1. AVIATION SAFETY NETWORK. (2004). Accident description. Retrieved 26 September, 2011 from: http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20011124-0 2. AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION BUREAU. (2004). Final report no. 1793 by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau. Payerne, Switzerland: Author. 3. http://www.skybrary.aero/index.php/Discipline_(OGHFA_BN) 4. http://www.icao.int/safety/Implementation/Library/Duty%20times%20fatigue.pdf
Handling and operating an airplane comes with great risk, but these risks that are present are handled with very different attitudes and dealt with in different ways depending on the environment the pilots are in.
PAN AM flight 103, taxied down London’s Heathrow airport at approximately 6:04 P.M., on December, 21st, 1988 en-route to New York City (Rosenburg, 2014). With 243 passengers and 16 crew members, “Clipper 103” as it was identified, had no clue they had roughly 38 minutes to live (Rosenburg, 2014). As the crew approached the oceanic portion of the flight the pilot requested permission from the tower to proceed with their journey over the Atlantic Ocean. This was the last time air traffic control would have verbal contact with the aircraft (Ushynskyi, 2009). A midair explosion sent all 259 people on board to a fiery grave. The remnants of the explosion rained down on the unsuspecting town of Lockerbie, Scotland,
They took off without any problems. The weather was pleasant and they were fully equipped and ready. Until 3:45 p.m., the tower operators in Fort Lauderdale received a bizarre message from the flight leader, Lt. Charles Taylor. Lt. Taylor reported that they could not see land and that they were off-course. He also reported that they were lost. Baffled, the tower operators told Lieutenant Taylor to go westward, but he answered that they did not know which way west was.
Although the flight was scheduled to depart from JFK Airport at about 7:00 p.m., it was delayed due to a disabled piece of ground equipment and concerns about a suspected passenger mismatch with baggage. The airplane took off at 8:18 p.m., shortly at 8:25 p.m., Boston air route traffic control center (ARTCC) instructed the pilots to climb and maintain an altitude of 19,000 feet and then lower down to 15,000 feet. However, at 8:26 p.m., Boston ARTCC amended TWA flight 800's altitude clearance, advising the pilots to maintain an altitude of 13,000 feet. At 8:29 p.m., the captain stated, "Look at that crazy fuel flow indicator there on number four... see that?" One minute later Boston ARTCC advised them to climb and maintain 15,000 feet to which the pilot replied: “Climb thrust”. After an extremely loud and quick sound, the cockpit voice recorder stopped recording at 8:31 p.m. At that moment, the crew of an Eastwind Airlines Boeing 737 flying nearby reported an explosion in the sky. TWA Flight 800 aircraft had broken up and crashed into the sea, 8 miles south of East Moriches, killing all on board. (1,2)
September 11, a turning point in the United States history. This event caused various negative impacts on the aviation industry. It changed the way airports and airlines organized themselves completely. The effect was so strong that it caused bankruptcies, people to lose their jobs, changes in how flights were made and flew, and security checking’s. This day also created fear and psychological issues on individuals concerning anything to do with flying on an airplane. In other words, this day was a catastrophe in the aviation industry in the US.
After World War II there was an excess of aircraft and trained pilots in the United States, which significantly increase in private and commercial flights. An increase in the use of private aircraft and large passenger planes meant an increase in the possibly of aircraft safety incidents. Even though safety measures had been put in place to tend to large number of aircraft in the skies, in late 1950’s there were two unfortunate accidents that finally led to legislation that would be a major change to the world of aviation that affects us even today. The introduction of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 spurred several changes in aviation that eventually led to the creation of the Federal Aviation Administration.
According to the International Air Transport Association, 2001 was only the second year in the history of civil aviation in which international traffic declined. Overall, it is believed that the IATA membership of airlines collectively lost more than US$12 billion during this time (Dixon, 2002).
On 24th November 2001, Crossair flight 3597 departed in the dark from runway 26L from Berlin – Tegel Airport at 20:01 UTC to Zurich Airport. 24 out of 33 people on board are killed. During the flight, the visibility was low due to overcast with light snowfall. It was further reported by the previous aircraft that the runway can only be seen from 1.3 miles. However, the commander did not find it serious, and continued with the approach.
The above mentioned airplane was a planned commercial passenger flight that took off from LaGuardia Airport, New York destined for Charlotte Douglas Airport in North Carolina on January 15, 2009. Six minutes after takeoff, the airplane was successfully abandoned in Hudson River after striking multiple birds during its initial climb out. The crew reported by radio two minutes after takeoff at an altitude of 3,200 feet, the Airbus experienced multiple bird strikes. The result of this multiple bird strikes, which occurred in northeast of George Washington Bridge was compressor stalls as well as loss of thrust in both engines. The Airbus was ditched in Hudson River after the aircrew discovered that they would not reach any airfield and turned southward. Fortunately, all the 155 passengers on board survived the accident though the Airbus was partly submerged and sinking slowly.
According the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Aircraft Accident Report, determines that the probable cause of the Flight 811 was sudden opening of the forward lower lobe cargo door in flight and subsequent explosive decompression, (NTSB,1989). In figure 1, depicted the damage of Flight 811 when it landed.
The 25th of September proved to be a tragic day in the legacy of Big Island Air. The final report from the NTSB included that the likely cause of the accident was the pilot’s poor decision to fly into known instrument meteorological conditions of the cloud covered terrain. The final report also concluded that the pilot’s failure to navigate properly and a direct disregard for standard operation procedures were all contributing factors. The pilot’s blatant disregard for flying into instrument meteorological conditions while operating under VFR rules and failing to ever obtain a weather brief all played a major role in this tragic disaster.
Retrieved February 15, 2005 from http://www.airdisaster.com/special/special-af90.shtml Potapczuk, M. (n.d.). Aircraft Icing. Retrieved February 18, 2005, from the Research Associateship Program website: http://www4.nationalacademies.org/PGA/rap.nsf/ByTitle/44.54.44.B1317?OpenDocument Krock, L. (2004). Crash of Flight 111: Making Air Travel Safer. Retrieved February 17, 2005 from PBS, Nova Online website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/aircrash/safer.html Holzapfel, E. (2000).
Aviation industry deals with more than thousands of people and also spending millions of funds in order to meet the requirements, satisfy the necessities of people and to produce state-of-the-art aircraft. With its objective it is significant to consider the hazards involved and bring out an output with the least extent and under control risks to prevent any loss in terms of life and even profit.
After the accident, a full-scale investigation was launched by the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). It concluded that the accident was caused by metal fatigue exacerbated by crevice corrosion, the corrosion is exacerbated by the salt water and the age of the aircraft was already 19 years old as the plane operated in a salt water environment.
5. Into Thin Air: The Mysterious Story Of Flight 19. (2012). Retrieved 29 March, 2014, from http://surviving-history.blogspot.com/2012/07/into-thin-air-mysterious-story-of.html