Bird strike caused fatal crash of illegally chartered Cessna 500 in Oklahoma in 2008

In March of 2008, a chartered Cessna 500 (registration N113SH) crashed two minutes after taking off from Oklahoma City's Wiley Post Airport (PWA), killing the two pilots and three passengers on board. The U.S. National Transportation Board (NTSB) has issued a report on the accident, citing "airplane wing-structure damage sustained during impact with one or more large birds (American white pelicans), which resulted in a loss of control of the airplane" as the probable cause. In addition, the Board notes that the aircraft was operating improperly as a charter, and that the pilots were not legally authorized to fly the aircraft for commercial purposes.

Regarding the accident, on March 4, 2008, at approximately 3:15 p.m. (CST), the aircraft departed PWA, bound for Mankato Regional Airport, Mankato, Minnesota. On board were two pilots and three passengers. Shortly after takeoff, the aircraft was impacted by several large birds, namely pelicans. The NTSB determined that the bird strike caused wing-structure damage resulting in a loss of control. The aircraft went into a steep descent and crashed. The aircraft was completely destroyed by the impact and post-crash fire, and all on board were killed.

The NTSB's investigation uncovered what the Board's Acting Chairman Mark V. Rosenker called "improper and noncompliant charter operations that should have been identified and discontinued by the FAA."

The aircraft was registered to Southwest Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Clinic PC of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. An IFR flight plan was filed under Part 91 rules, however it emerged that the aircraft was operating as a charter. As such, it should have been operating under Part 135 rules.

The flight originated from the ramp of Interstate Helicopters, a Part 135 on-demand helicopter operator at PWA. The NTSB accident report notes the following points about the operation and the pilots:

• The accident pilot was certificated, trained, and qualified to fly the accident airplane in noncommercial operations as a single pilot.
• The second pilot was not trained, qualified, or current to fly the accident airplane; however, because the pilot was authorized to fly the accident airplane as a single pilot, the second pilot could occupy a cockpit seat and assist the pilot as directed.
• At the time of the accident, Interstate Helicopters was operating the accident airplane in commercial service contrary to its Federal Aviation Administration-issued 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 135 operating certificate, which, at the time, did not authorize operation of the accident airplane or any other fixed-wing aircraft.
• Neither the pilot nor the second pilot were trained or qualified to fly the accident airplane in any 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 135 commercial charter operation, and the accident airplane was not maintained in accordance with Part 135 commercial maintenance requirements.
• Interstate Helicopters repeatedly labeled invoices as “aircraft lease” and “sales demo” flights, effectively disguising the noncompliant charter flights and circumventing the terms of its operating certificate.

The NTSB goes to discuss in detail the risks to all concerned when operators "attempt to circumvent commercial charter operations." Among the Board's recommendations arising from the investigation of this accident is an item that suggests expanding Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) truth-in-leasing regulations to include all turbine-powered airplanes. Specifically, the NTSB wants "Part 135 on-demand operators to provide their customers with a written document, correspondence, or ticket that expressly describes the terms of carriage, including the regulatory part under which the flight is operated."

The NTSB also recommends that FAA flight plans include "a block for the pilot to identify the operator and a block to specify the operating rules under which the flight is being conducted." The Board points out that a pilot "would be less likely to intentionally or inadvertently agree to fly an unauthorized commercial charter operation if the pilot, as the final authority for the operation of the aircraft, were required to identify on the flight plan the name of the operator and the regulation under which the flight is operating."

Also included in the NTSB recommendations are a number of items relating to bird-strike certification requirements for transport category aircraft; more stringent verification of airport wildlife hazard assessments; and reporting of wildlife strikes.

As a final note of particular interest to pilots, the aircraft was equipped with a cockpit voice recorder (CVR), which was retrieved from the wreckage. It was found to have been inoperative at the time of the accident, and in fact it probably had been inop for some time prior to the accident. It provided no data for the investigation.

The NTSB urges the FAA to require aircraft equipped with a CVR "to be functionally tested before the first flight of each day and to perform a periodic maintenance check of the CVR."

Here is the link to the Abstract of the NTSB's report about this accident: NTSB ID: AAR-09-05.

Here is the link to the NTSB Accident Docket, where you can find all of the documents in support of this accident investigation, as well as photos of the aircraft wreckage at the crash site.

Yikes! Airbus A380 hard landing at Oshkosh

The folks at AVweb.com produced this video of the arrival of the Airbus A380 at Oshkosh for the 2009 AirVenture event. The video was shot earlier today as the A380 crabbed its way onto the runway at Oshkosh. AVweb explains:

The Airbus A380, the world's largest airliner, made quite a dramatic arrival at Oshkosh on Tuesday. Dan Gryder, a Boeing 777 pilot, analyzes what went wrong.

The video includes a slow motion replay of the landing.



If the video does not play or display properly above, click here to view it on YouTube.

Check out AVweb's YouTube channel for more great aviation videos.

Aria Air IL-62 accident at Mashhad, Iran

by B. N. Sullivan

An aircraft accident at Mashhad, Iran has claimed the lives of more than a dozen people, including several crew members. The aircraft, an Ilyushin IL-62m operated by Iranian carrier Aria Air as Flight IRX1525, is said to have overrun a runway after performing an emergency landing at Masshad-Shahid Hashemi Nejad airport. The accident happened shortly after 18:00 local time on July 24, 2009. The flight had originated at Tehran-Mehrabad Airport.

AFP, quoting the Mehr news agency, reported that "the plane crashed through the airport's perimeter wall before hitting power lines and coming to a halt in adjacent farmland." The forward section of the fuselage -- including the cockpit -- was completely smashed, killing the flight deck crew and a number of people in the passenger cabin. News photos seem to indicate that the aircraft came to a rest on its main landing gear in a tail-down attitude.

The exact number of injuries and fatalities is not clear at this time. Iranian news web site PressTV reports "at least 16" fatalities and 21 injured among 160 on board, and mentioned that "[e]arlier reports had put the number of deaths at 30 and the number of injured at 20."

Other news agencies, quoting Iran's news agency IRNA, report slightly different numbers.

UPDATE July 26, 2009: Reuters is reporting that 13 of the 16 fatalities on Aria Air Flt IRX1525 were crew and the three others were passengers, adding that there were 153 on board the aircraft.

"Nine of the crew members killed in the incident were citizens of Kazakhstan and the remaining four were Iranians," Reza Jafarzadeh, the spokesman of Iran's aviation organisation told the official IRNA news agency on Saturday.

State television in Iran said the flying license of Aria Aviation Company had been suspended until an investigation into the plane crash was completed.

[Photo Source]

High Flight (...really high flight!)

Ride along on a Lockheed U-2 spyplane and check out the amazing view cruising at 70,000ft as the sky above turns black.

Thanks to Jill Rutan Hoffman for the tip about this video. Follow Jill on Twitter: @LookingSkyward.



If the video does not play or display properly above, click here to view it on YouTube.

The crash of Continental Flight 1404: Part 2, Evacuation details

by B. N. Sullivan

This is the second in a two-part series about the post-crash conditions and evacuation of Continental Airlines Flight 1404, a Boeing 737-500 that crashed and burned following a runway excursion at Denver on December 20, 2008. Part 1, Post-crash conditions in the cabin, is here.

This narrative is based on summaries of interviews with individuals who were on board the accident aircraft, provided by the NTSB [link below]. Those individuals included two Continental Airlines pilots who were on board as passengers while dead-heading back to their base. In this narrative, the dead-heading captain is referred to as DHC, and the dead-heading first officer is referred to as DHFO. [Note: The NTSB has not released summaries of interviews with the flight attendants from CO Flt 1404.]

After the aircraft came to a stop in a ravine alongside runway 34R at Denver International Airport, both pilots on the flight deck were temporarily incapacitated by their injuries and shock. The flight attendants initiated an evacuation and hustled the passengers out of the burning plane, with the help of the dead-heading pilots.

This part of the story was told most compellingly and in great detail by the DHFO, who had been in seat 8D. He said an aft flight attendant tried to call the cockpit a couple of times but got no response. The flight attendants looked out the windows and made the decision to evacuate. They did not go out the right side of the aircraft because of the fire "and it was already melting."

The DHFO described panels falling and wires "coming from the ceiling." He used the words "panic and chaos" to describe the behavior of the passengers as they pushed and shoved toward the exits. He said because of the fire "it was the most extreme human behavior he had ever seen and frantic was not the word for it."

Quoting from the DHFO's interview summary:

He said the cabin was well illuminated because of the fire – the whole wing and wing root were on fire – which was most noticeable where he was sitting and over the wing exit. He said that forward of the bulkhead, he could see light coming into first class and also aft.

He unbuckled his seat belt, turned left and the male passenger sitting in the exit row had the door open “ASAP.” He knew what he was doing.

He said there was a tremendous confluence of passengers trying to exit through the over-wing exit. Five people were trying to get out for everyone one that got out. No one wanted to be second.

He could not say how extreme the panic was. He said that the windows were melting and popping. Passengers were screaming “we’re gonna burn” and “it’s gonna explode.”

He said lots of people were trying to get out at the same time. Passengers were climbing over seats. It seemed there were 30 people trying to get out of the hole at the same time.

He told people to calm down, the aircraft was not going to explode, get through and keep moving. He said there was too much panic and his instructions fell on deaf ears...

He looked forward and saw an empty airplane. He saw the first class flight attendant standing on one leg and [she] motioned for us to come forward. He said the aisles aft and forward were packed so he dove across seat tops and used the “army crawl.” He grabbed the last two ladies in the aisle and got them to the front to get out...

After helping the ladies evacuate, the DHFO re-entered the aircraft and saw that the two pilots were emerging from the flight deck, both obviously in pain. He helped them to exit through the L1 door, and then came back for the first class flight attendant to help her, since she had an injured ankle.

After helping the injured flight attendant off the plane, the DHFO returned inside one more time.

He saw the deadheading captain in the aisle and the male aft galley flight attendant. The plane started to fill with smoke.

They met in the middle over the wing and started looking for anyone else on the airplane because there were a lot of lap children on the flight. The male aft flight attendant said it was all clear in the back. The deadheading captain asked if he was sure, he said yes, and the captain told him to go back and check one more time.

By that time, the fire was coming up through the floor and they were concerned that the center fuel tank might blow. The DHC said in his interview that by the time they left the aircraft "the windows were starting to melt" and he feared there would soon be a breach. He "commanded that it was time to get off."

They left and got as far away from the aircraft as they could, stopping to again assist the injured forward flight attendant. In his interview, the DHFO told the NTSB:

[The first class flight attendant] was in a lot of pain and could not get up. He picked her up because the fire got bigger. He said the center tank gave way and a river of fuel ran north-south toward the nose and fire was coming behind it. It was starting to “really light off.” The entire cabin was on fire.

Later in the interview, the DHFO said that what stood out in his mind was the composure of the flight attendants. He said he was "humbled by what they did" to get everyone off the airplane. He said that the first class flight attendant was "stoic" -- despite being injured herself, she was very matter of fact and told passengers to drop everything and keep moving.

It was the same in the back, he said. The male aft flight attendant practically "walked through fire to save people" -- not literally, he clarified, but the fire was encroaching. He said the aft flight attendant "could have turned and run but he still searched every row and searched through pillows, blankets and luggage on the floor to make sure no one was there" disregarding his own safety.

He said "the flight attendants were real heroes."

Sounds to me like the flight attendants and the dead-heading pilots all were heroes. All of them deserve high praise for their exemplary performance during this emergency.

Here is the link to the NTSB Interview Summaries related to the crash of CO 1404 at Denver (91-page 'PDF' file).

Here is the link to the NTSB Docket listing all of the public documents related to this accident that have been released to date.

Here is a link to a collection of photos of Continental Flight 1404 wreckage, from TheDenverChannel.com web site.

[Photo Source]

RELATED: Click here to view all posts about Continental Flt 1404 on Aircrew Buzz.

The crash of Continental Flight 1404: Part 1, Post-crash conditions in the cabin

by B. N. Sullivan

On July 17, 2009 the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) made public a slew of documentation related to their investigation of the Continental Airlines Flight 1404 disaster at Denver International Airport (DEN) late last year. The investigation is still underway, and no conclusions regarding probable cause have yet been presented, but the newly released materials provide a lot of new information about the accident.

The accident happened on December 20, 2008 when the Boeing 737-500 aircraft (registration N18611) veered off the left side of runway 34R at DEN during its takeoff roll. The aircraft was destroyed by the runway excursion and post-crash fire. All on board survived, although 37 among the five crew and 110 passengers were hospitalized for injuries, some serious.

A number of news reports both inside and outside the aviation community have opined about the meaning embedded in the technical information newly released by the NTSB. I will leave it to the pilots and engineers who are qualified to do so to pore through and interpret the information that emerged from the Flight Data Recorder readouts and other systems information. I will leave it to the meteorologists to draw conclusions about the wintry weather and wind gusts on that evening. Otherwise, I will wait for the NTSB's final report to determine probable cause.

I would, however, like to bring forth what I think is important information arising from the NTSB's interviews of several individuals who were on the accident flight. That information has to do with the post-crash evacuation and related survivability issues. Curiously, this information has (so far) been overlooked in press reports about the newly released documents, but I judge it to be of great interest to the crew members who are the primary audience of Aircrew Buzz.

Among the documents related to the investigation of the Continental Flight 1404 accident, one of the lengthiest is a 91-page report summarizing the NTSB's interviews with 17 individuals [link below]. Among the interviewees were the two pilots who were operating the accident flight, and two other Continental pilots who were on board as passengers, dead-heading back to their base. Their statements give the clearest picture to date of the situation inside the aircraft immediately post-crash, and what happened during the subsequent evacuation.

From the interview summaries we learn that both pilots on the flight deck were injured, the captain seriously. We learn that both were stunned by the accident, and were unable to do anything operationally in the first couple of minutes after the aircraft came to a rest. Neither initiated the evacuation of the aircraft.

The captain was interviewed four days after the accident while still hospitalized with injuries that included spinal fractures. He stated that he "was either knocked out or dazed" immediately after the crash, and did not recall how he got out of the airplane.

Both pilots recalled that the flight deck was completely dark. The first officer said that he "could hear things going on in the cabin and he thought that he needed to make a PA" but he did not. His next thoughts, he said, were about getting himself and the captain out of the aircraft.

The first officer "confirmed that the cockpit door was closed for the entire evacuation" and that by the time he opened the door, everyone was off the aircraft except the dead-heading crew and a flight attendant.

Meanwhile, back in the passenger cabin, the damage inside the aircraft was considerable, and the situation was worsened by a fire that was quickly consuming the right side of the aircraft.

The dead-heading captain (DHC) was seated in 1B, right at the bulkhead in first class. As soon as the aircraft came to a stop, he unbuckled his seat belt and although injured, assisted with the evacuation that was already underway. He gave a description of the conditions inside the cabin.

The DHC said the panels in the middle of the row "had swung down and were still swinging." He tried to keep them out of the way as people went by because he knew "they would get hurt because they swung so fast." Although people were bumping him as they passed by in the aisle, he finally got the panels up and locked into place. He then went toward the back and got three more panels locked up.

Later in his interview the DHC clarified that the overhead panels in the center aisle had fallen.

He said they hinge on the aircraft right in the aisle and they were down and swinging back and forth. He pushed it back and that was how he got hit. He said he was 6’ 3” and was holding it back and people holding babies hit him a couple of times. He jumped on the other side and pushed the panel up, got hit by another passenger and fortunately locked it back in place. He said the panels did not malfunction but just came undone.

As the fire grew more intense, the DHC could see a breach in the cabin just aft of the exit row. He saw the emergency lights on but could not see past the breach because it was dark in the back. He saw flames from the first class windows to the over-wing exit. He said he did not feel any heat initially.

The DHC then looked toward the cockpit. He saw "the forward flight attendant was standing on one leg holding herself up. The cockpit door was closed."

After assisting with the evacuation of passengers, he and the dead-heading first officer (DHFO) went to the cockpit door and it opened. The captain "was out of his seat between the pedestal and cockpit door and was in excruciating pain." The DHC said he could see that "both pilots were very injured" and that "they looked dazed from the impact." The two dead-heading pilots got the flight deck crew out of the cockpit and helped them through the L1 door.

The fire was on the right side of the aircraft. All on board evacuated through the doors on the left side of the aircraft.

All slides deployed properly, however since the landing gear had been sheared off, the door sills were not very far above the ground level. In that position, the DHFO remarked, the slides were more like a “padded walkway” than slides.

The DHFO also commented that the gray-colored slides might have been easier to see if they were bright yellow or fluorescent orange. He also said "two exits are better than one and a bigger one is better than a smaller one."

Next: Part 2, Evacuation details

Here is the link to the NTSB Interview Summaries related to the crash of CO 1404 at Denver (91-page 'PDF' file).

Here is the link to the NTSB Docket listing all of the public documents related to this accident.

[Photo Source]

RELATED: Click here to view all posts about Continental Flt 1404 on Aircrew Buzz.

Video: How to remodel the passenger cabin of a Boeing 747

This video was produced earlier this year by United Airlines. In a time lapse sequence, it shows the remodeling of "the first and business class cabins on its Boeing 747, adding new lie-flat beds and 15-inch personal TV screens that have more than 150 hours of entertainment."

(I don't know why I love stuff like this, but I do...)



If the video does not play or display properly above, click here to view it on YouTube.

Alternative to the crash pad: Crews living in LAX parking lot

by B. N. Sullivan

I have to admit I was taken aback for a moment when I read a story in today's Los Angeles Times about some airline employees -- including pilots, flight attendants and mechanics -- who are living part-time in a parking lot at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Instead of opting for the usual crash pads, about 100 crew members from assorted carriers have chosen to park their RVs in a particular parking lot at LAX to use them as a home away from home.

They have formed something of a crew colony there, and they even have an unofficial 'mayor'. This is not done on the sly, but in a very organized way, sanctioned by the airport authority

According to the L. A. Times article:

For several years, clusters of RVs were scattered around the airport's parking lots until LAX officials decided to consolidate them in Lot B. Now operating as an organized camp overseen by the airport, it has an unofficial mayor, a code of conduct and residency requirements, including background checks, regular vehicle inspections and proof of employment at an air carrier.

"There might be a few other places like this nationally, but I think this is rather unique," said Michael Biagi, who heads the land-use division at Los Angeles World Airports.

Today, the colony has more than 100 residents -- mostly men -- from around the country, including captains, first officers, mechanics, flight attendants, support staff and employees of air cargo companies. There are at least two married couples, who work as flight attendants. About 10 people are on a waiting list.

Apparently the RVs used by these airline employees as parking lot crash pads range from relatively cushy motor homes to bare-bones campers on the backs of pick-up trucks.

This idea is a new one on me, but hey -- whatever works! (I'll give them extra points for being inventive, too.)

Here's a slide show about the LAX parking lot residents. Does anyone know of any similar RV camps near other airports?

[Photo Source]