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On July 19, 1989, an United Airlines' DC-10-10, on its way from Denver to Chicago, experienced a catastrophic failure of the No. 2 tail-mounted engine during cruise flight. The airplane subsequently crashed during an attempted landing at Sioux Gateway Airport, Iowa. Of the 296 people on board 111 were killed.
The Lockheed 1011 registered A6-BSM, operated by Star Jet and chartered by Olympic Airlines, arrived on 4 July 2005 at Terminal 1 at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport. Departure was delayed because the forward hold door could not be closed. A mechanic tried to close the door manually with a hammer and a chuck. Some passengers, worried about the apparent state of the cabin and the noise, asked to disembark, and this led to a mass movement. The airplane took finally off at 16h17. Shortly after departure the crew noticed problems with engine number 3. The captain requested the SEVERE DAMAGE procedure and returned to the airport. The French Bureau d'Enqu tes et d'Analyses pour la s curit de l'aviation civile (BEA) investigated the incident. BEA found out that the aircraft suffered from many problems, such as leaking fuel, malfunctioning safety features and lacking maintenance. The flight crew was not properly licensed, the captain was too old to fly in Europe. The Lockheed Tristar was a flying coffin.
On January 13, 1982, Air Florida Flight 90, a Boeing 737-222, was a scheduled flight to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, from Washington National Airport, Washington, D.C. There were 74 passengers and 5 crewmembers on board. The flight was delayed about 1 hour 45 minutes due to a moderate to heavy snowfall. Shortly after takeoff the aircraft crashed at 1601 e.s.t. into the 14th Street Bridge over the Potomac River and plunged into the ice-covered river, 0.75 nmi from the departure end of runway 36. Four passengers and one crewmember survived the crash. Four persons in the vehicles on the bridge were killed; four were injured. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the flightcrew's failure to use engine anti-ice during ground operation and takeoff, and to take off with snow/ice on the airfoil surfaces of the aircraft. Contributing to the accident were the ground delay between de-icing and takeoff clearance.
On April 27, 1976, American Airlines, Flight 625, a Boeing 727-95, operated as a scheduled passenger flight from Providence, Rhode Island, to Harry S Truman Airport, Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, with a stop at John F. Kennedy -International Airport, New York. The flight departed JFK at 1200 with 88 persons, including 7 crewmembers, aboard. At about 1510, during landing at the Harry S Truman Airport, Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, flight 625 overran the departure end of runway 9, struck the ILS antenna, crashed through a fence, and came to rest against a building located 1,040 feet beyond the end of the runway. The aircraft was destroyed, 35 passengers and 2 flight attendants were killed. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the accident was the captain's actions and his misjudgment in initiating a go-around maneuver with insufficient runway remaining after a long touchdown.
On 25 January 2010, at 00:41:30 UTC, Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 409, a Boeing 737-800, on its way from Beirut to Addis Abeba, crashed just after take-off from Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, into the Mediterranean Sea about 5 NM South West of Beirut International Airport. All 90 persons on board were killed in the accident. The investigation concluded that the probable causes of the accident were pilot errors due to loss of situational awareness. Ethiopian Airlines refutes this conclusion. Other factors that could have lead to probable causes are the increased workload and stress levels that have most likely led to the captain reaching a situation of loss of situational awareness similar to a subtle incapacitation and the F/O failure to recognize it or to intervene accordingly. Ethiopian Airlines refutes the investigation. According to the airline the final report was biased, lacking evidence, incomplete and did not present the full account of the accident.
On December 20, 1995, American Airlines Flight 965, a Boeing 757-223, was on a scheduled passenger flight from Miami, Florida, U.S.A., to Cali, Colombia. Close to its final destination the pilots erroneously cleared the approach waypoints from their navigation computer. When the controller asked the pilots to check back in over Tulua, north of Cali, it was no longer programmed into the computer. They were lost and the aircraft crashed into a mountain. Of the 163 people on board, 4 passengers survived miraculously the accident.
On July 17, 1996, about 2031 eastern daylight time, Trans World Airlines, Inc. (TWA) flight 800, a Boeing 747, crashed in the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York. TWA flight 800 was a scheduled international passenger flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), New York, New York, to Charles DeGaulle International Airport, Paris, France. All 230 people on board were killed, and the airplane was destroyed. The weather was good. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the accident was an explosion of the center wing fuel tank, resulting from ignition of the flammable fuel/air mixture in the tank. Contributing factors to the accident were the design and certification concept that fuel tank explosions could be prevented solely by precluding all ignition sources and the design and certification of the Boeing 747. The safety issues in this report focus on fuel tank flammability.
On March 23, 2004, about 1918:34 central standard time, an Era Aviation Sikorsky S-76A helicopter, N579EH, crashed into the Gulf of Mexico about 70 nautical miles south-southeast of Scholes International Airport (GLS), Galveston, Texas. The helicopter was en route to the drilling ship Discoverer Spirit. The captain, copilot, and eight passengers aboard the helicopter were killed, and the helicopter was destroyed by impact forces. The flight was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 135 on a visual flight rules flight plan. Night visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the flight crew's failure to identify and arrest the helicopter's descent for undetermined reasons, which resulted in controlled flight into terrain.
On 4 October 1992, El Al Israel Airlines Flight 1862, a Boeing 747-200 Freighter, departed from Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, on its way to Tel Aviv, Israel. Seven minutes after take-off the plane lost engine no. 3 and 4 and crashed in an apartment block just outside Amsterdam, killing 43 people. The investigation concluded that the design and certification of the B 747 pylon was inadequate to provide the required level of safety. Furthermore the system to ensure structural integrity by inspection failed.
On August 12, 1985, a Japan Airlines B-747 aircraft lost, shortly after take-off, part of its tail and crashed in the mountains northwest of Tokyo. Of the 524 persons on board 520 were killed, 4 survived the accident. The accident was caused by a rupture of the aft pressure bulkhead of the aircraft, and the subsequent ruptures of a part of the fuselage tail, vertical fin and hydraulic flight control systems. The rupture happened as the result of an improper repair after an accident with the aircraft in Osaka, in June 1978.