USAir flight 1493

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USAir flight 1493 /
SkyWest flight 5569
Accident summary
Accident type Plane collision
place Los Angeles International Airport
date February 1, 1991
Fatalities 34
Injured 30th
1. Aircraft
Aircraft type Boeing 737-3B7
operator USAir
Mark N388US
Departure airport Syracuse Airport
1. Stopover Ronald Reagan National Airport
2. Stopover Port Columbus International Airport
Destination airport Los Angeles International Airport
Passengers 83
crew 6th
Survivors 67
2. Aircraft
Aircraft type Fairchild Swearingen SA.227AC Metro III
operator SkyWest Airlines
Mark N683AV
Departure airport Los Angeles International Airport
Destination airport Palmdale Airport
Passengers 10
crew 2
Survivors 0
Lists of aviation accidents

USAir flight 1493 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight on February 1, 1991 with a Boeing 737-3B7 landing at Los Angeles International Airport with a Swearingen SA.227AC Metro III , Metroliner forshort, on the planned SkyWest flight 5569 collided. In the collision and the subsequent fire, a total of 34 people died, including all twelve people on board the Metroliner. The main reason for the accident, in addition to the lack of lighting on the turboprop aircraft, was human error on the part of the air traffic controller responsible.

Aircraft and crews

USAir Boeing 737

US Airways Boeing 737-3B7, N388US, the accident machine

The Boeing 737-3B7 completed its first flight hours on August 23, 1985, almost five and a half years before the accident: it was delivered to USAir on September 13, 1985, where it initially flew under the registration number N360AU. Three years later it was renamed N388US. The machine had two CFM56-3B1 engines.

The captain was 48 years old and had completed a total of 16,300 flight hours, including 4,300 on the Boeing 737. The first officer was 32 years old and had been with USAir since October 1988. He had 4,316 flight hours of flight experience, including 982 on the Boeing 737. Including the pilots, six crew members were on board, all of whom had no abnormalities in their careers. Of the 128 passenger seats in the Boeing, 83 were occupied.

SkyWest Airlines Metroliner

A Swearingen SA.227AC Metro III of SkyWest, identical in construction to the accident machine

The SkyWest Airlines aircraft was a Fairchild Swearingen SA.227AC Metro III, a turboprop aircraft , or Metroliner for short , which was built in 1987. It was operated under the registration number N683AV with two Honeywell TPE331 engines.

The only crew members were two pilots, the 32-year-old captain with 8808 flight hours, who had been with SkyWest since May 1985, and the 45-year-old first officer, who had been with the regional airline since July 1982 and was able to collect 8000 flight hours. There were also ten passengers on board, which meant that the machine was only about half occupied.

Course of events

Scheme

The Boeing 737 on USAir Flight 1493 was opposite indicator 17:50 PST (UTC-8) on 1 February 1991 in the approach to runway 24L of the Los Angeles airport after 13:17 from Port Columbus was started. About 15 minutes before landing, the master and the first officer began the visual approach to the Californian airport. 13 kilometers away, the first officer made the first landing request to the responsible air traffic controller in the Los Angeles Tower . However, at the time the controller was busy with several other aircraft on runways 24L and 24R assigned to her . SkyWest Airlines Flight 5569 about to take off was instructed to wait on runway 24L . One minute after the last attempt at contact, the USAir crew requested permission to land again, while the 737-3B7 was only about six kilometers from its destination. The air traffic controller was still busy with the other machines. Only 62 seconds before landing did she give USAir 1493 permission to land 24L . At 6:06:57 p.m. the Boeing 737 touched down on the runway and five seconds later collided with the Metroliner, which was still on the runway, at a speed of over 150  mph (over 240 km / h). Both swerved to the left, and before the larger plane squeezed the Fairchild Swearingen Metro between itself and an empty fire station next to the tarmac about 366 meters from the point of collision, there was an explosion and both planes went up in flames.

One minute after the accident, the first fire brigade emergency services, who only received the message that a Boeing 737 was on fire on the runway, arrived from Station 80 400 meters away. Supported by other units, they immediately started their rescue and extinguishing operations, with around 40 to 50 people being evacuated from the smoky cabin of the Boeing 737, the emergency exits of which were mostly blocked by fire, including the co-pilot of the USAir machine. Meanwhile, a firefighter found a propeller in the right engine of that aircraft, which is why a collision between two aircraft was suspected. A total of 134 emergency services were able to extinguish the fire half an hour after it broke out with more than 75,700 liters of water.

After the tower had received the report that two aircraft were probably involved in the disaster, the controllers found that SkyWest flight 5569 could not be contacted, had disappeared and must therefore be involved in the collision.

NTSB overview graphic of the distribution of seats on board the USAir Boeing and their injuries

Victims and damage

A total of 34 people were killed and 30 injured in the collision and the resulting fire. All twelve people in the Metroliner died, eleven of multiple trauma , only one passenger was killed by smoke inhalation and burns . On board the Boeing 737 of the USAir, 2 crew members, including the captain, and 20 of the passengers died. The co-pilot and twelve other occupants were seriously injured, 17 others were slightly injured. Another 37 people survived the disaster almost unscathed.

Both aircraft, the total value of which was estimated at around $ 21,600,000 (the equivalent of around 16 million euros), as well as the fire station were completely destroyed.

At the time of the accident, the responsible air traffic controller at Los Angeles Airport, 38 years old, suffered a shock from this accident and received psychological help. In 1977 she was exempted from her job in the military after her parents died in an airplane accident.

Accident investigation

A few hours after the collision, a team dispatched by the US National Transportation Safety Board , or NTSB, arrived at Los Angeles International Airport. He immediately asked how two machines could be on one runway at the same time. The investigators were also still under time pressure, as the two lanes 24R and 24L had to be completely closed and thus chaos at the airport. But before the NTSB could recover the aircraft's flight recorders , several thousand liters of kerosene first had to be pumped out of the Boeing 737, which resulted in the investigation being interrupted for several hours.

The investigators split up; some examined the wreck, others started in the tower. The recordings from the evening of the incident were initially confiscated there; The two black boxes of the Boeing and the flight data recorder of the Metroliner, which had no voice recorder , were also found in the wreckage.

The events were reconstructed by evaluating the recordings. It emerged from this that the air traffic controller, who was responsible for ten aircraft at the same time, instructed the Metroliner, which was ready to take off, at 6:03 p.m. to taxi to the 45th intersection, which is on 24L , and wait there until flight 5006 the Wings West Airlines had crossed the track. This machine was already waiting there for clearance to cross. The controller now tried to inform Flight 5006 that it was cleared to cross the runway. The crew didn't answer. Only after a minute did it become apparent that the pilots had accidentally changed the frequency and were therefore unavailable. But shortly after this Wings West Airlines aircraft had crossed the runway, another aircraft from the same airline, flight 5072, called in at 6:06:08 p.m. and asked for take-off permission. The air traffic controller, who had already granted USAir flight 1493 at 6:05:55 p.m. after repeated requests, was briefly confused because of the similarity of the flight names and could not find the control strip of the aircraft. She had to get it first before she could give Wings West 5072 further instructions on how to wait. A short time later, the USAir Boeing 737-3B7 raced into the Metroliner, which was still waiting on the tarmac. Investigators found that the air traffic controller had simply forgotten about SkyWest Flight 5569.

Investigators continued their research and found that this was not the first incident of its kind. Just seven months before the collision, a landing McDonnell Douglas DC-10 could fly just over an Airbus that was waiting for permission to take off. After this near miss, Los Angeles International Airport had already been informed that there was a shortage of staff in the tower and that light masts would cover parts of runways 24R and 24L , including position 45, where the Metroliner was. The NTSB came to the conclusion that the air traffic controller could not have seen the propeller plane from the tower. In addition, the ground penetrating radar was defective that evening , which meant that the controller did not have any technical equipment available to point out her fault.

Graphic of the NTSB of the Metroliner with markings of the external lighting. Green lights were on and red lights were off on SkyWest Flight 5569.

However, the investigators were still wondering why the USAir crew did not see the waiting Metroliner on the taxiway and did not try to evade it, because the SkyWest machine had the standardized warning and indicator lights. But with the regional airline it was customary to switch on the complete lighting only after receiving the take-off permission, which is why on flight 5569 only the navigation lights and the anti-collision light were on. However, these had the same brightness and color as the lights on the runway, which is why the aircraft could not be recognized at all for the landing USAir flight at certain positions. It was only when it touched down on the runway that the Boeing 737 crew realized that another machine was on the runway in front of them. For example, seconds before the catastrophe, a male sent the radio message “What the hell?” (German: “What the hell ...?”); who exactly it was could no longer be determined. Due to the speed of the jet, there was no time left for rescue flight maneuvers.

In the final report of the NTSB, the human error of the air traffic controller was ultimately named as the cause of the accident.

consequences

As a result of the accident involving the Boeing 737-3B7 and the Swearingen SA.227AC Metro III, Los Angeles International Airport acquired a new ground penetrating radar some time later. In addition, the technical standards have been improved and modernized. The system with the control strips has also been revised, and the dual control principle , which relieves the pilot, was introduced. Five years after the collision, a new tower was erected which, at 252 feet (about 76.8 meters), is 92 feet (about 28 meters) higher than its predecessor. Furthermore, aircraft now have to switch on all of their lighting before they use the runways.

Despite the changes, more incidents occurred at Los Angeles International Airport each year, with a total of 27 incidents in 2007 alone. For this reason, the ASDE-X safety systems for the air traffic controllers and the Runway Status Lights (RWSL) for the aircraft crews were introduced in 2008 and 2009 for around 7.7 million dollars (approx. 5,850,000 euros). The RWSL was installed in Los Angeles as the third airport in the United States.

filming

The accident of USAir flight 1493 and SkyWest flight 5569 was shown in 2010 under the direction of Su Rynard in the fourth episode of the ninth season of the Canadian television series Mayday - Alarm im Cockpit with the original English title Cleared for Disaster and the German title Klar zum Crash . In simulated scenes, animations and interviews with crew members, passengers, eyewitnesses and investigators, the course and effects of the collision were reported.

See also

Web links

Commons : USAir Flight 1493  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Aviation Safety Network : Aircraft accident data and report for the Boeing 737-3B7. Retrieved on November 14, 2010 (German / English).
  2. ↑ US Air N388US (Boeing 737 - MSN 23310) (Ex N360AU). Airfleets.net, accessed November 14, 2010 .
  3. ↑ a b "USAir Crewmembers". NTSB investigation report, p. 89 (accessed: December 11, 2010)
  4. ↑ a b "Seating and Injury Chart". NTSB investigation report, p. 43 (accessed: December 11, 2010)
  5. ↑ "USAir Crew Members". NTSB investigation report, p. 15 (accessed: November 14, 2010)
  6. ↑ "USAir Boeing 737-300". NTSB investigation report, p. 37 (accessed: November 14, 2010)
  7. ↑ Aviation Safety Network : Flight accident data and report of the Metroliner. Retrieved November 15, 2010 (German / English).
  8. ↑ "Skywest Airlines Flight Crew". NTSB investigation report, p. 90 (accessed: December 11, 2010)
  9. ↑ "Skywest Airlines Crewmembers / Skywest Fairchild Metroliner". NTSB investigation report, p. 9 (accessed: November 15, 2010)
  10. ↑ Shari Stamford Krause: Case Study II-I: USAir Flight 1493 and Skywest Flight 5569 . In: Aircraft Safety - Accident Investigations, Analyzes & Applications . 2nd Edition. McGraw-Hill , 2003, p. 148 ( entry on Google Books ).
  11. ^ "History of the Flights". NTSB investigation report, p. 10 (accessed: November 15, 2010)
  12. ↑ CVR Database - USAir 1493. tailstrike.com, accessed December 5, 2010 (English).
  13. ↑ a b c d James R. Carroll: FAA releases tower tapes of crash on LA runway. The Baltimore Sun , March 26, 1991, accessed December 9, 2010 .
  14. ^ Andrew Goldman: How Oil Heir and New York Arts Patron David Koch Became the Tea Party's Wallet. New York magazine , July 25, 2010, p. 4 , accessed December 9, 2010 .
  15. ↑ "Wreckage and Impact Information". NTSB investigation report, p. 29 (accessed: December 4, 2010)
  16. ↑ USAir Flight 1493 / Skywest Flight 5569, Los Angeles, California, February 1, 1991 . In: Other Previous Related Accidents from the NTSB investigation report on "American Airlines Flight 1420". 2001, p. 107.
  17. ^ "Fire Fighting Notification and Response". NTSB investigation report, p. 39 (accessed: December 4, 2010)
  18. ^ "Fire Fighting Notification and Response". NTSB investigation report, p. 40 (accessed: December 4, 2010)
  19. ↑ a b "Injuries to Persons". NTSB investigation report, p. 15 (accessed: December 5, 2010)
  20. ^ "Medical and Pathological Information". NTSB investigation report, p. 37 (accessed: December 5, 2010)
  21. ^ "Damage to Aircraft". NTSB investigation report, p. 15 (accessed: December 4, 2010)
  22. ^ "Other Damage". NTSB investigation report, p. 15 (accessed: December 4, 2010)
  23. ↑ Mark A. Steinand, Eric Malnic: Female flight controller's worst nightmare came true in LA plane collision. Baltimore Sun , February 10, 1991, accessed January 15, 2011 .
  24. ↑ Eric Malnic, Rich Connell: Controller in crash had lost military job. Houston Chronicle , July 5, 1991, accessed January 15, 2011 .
  25. ↑ a b "History of the Flights". NTSB investigation report, p. 12 (accessed: December 5, 2010)
  26. ^ A b Paul A. Craig: Recognizing the Loss of Situational Awareness . NTSB Numer DCA91MA018A. In: Situational Awareness - Controlling Pilot Error . McGraw-Hill , 2001, p. 115 ( entry on Google Books ).
  27. ↑ a b "History of the Flights". NTSB investigation report, p. 14 (accessed: December 4, 2010)
  28. ↑ a b "ATC Tower". NTSB investigation report, p. 23 (accessed: December 4, 2010)
  29. ↑ "Airport Surface Detection Equipment". NTSB investigation report, p. 24 (accessed: December 4, 2010)
  30. ↑ "SkyWest Fairchild Metroliner". NTSB investigation report, p. 17 (accessed: November 30, 2010)
  31. ↑ "Conspicuity Exercise". NTSB investigation report, p. 45/46 (accessed: December 10, 2010)
  32. ↑ "Probable Cause". NTSB investigation report, p. 83 (accessed: December 10, 2010)
  33. ^ Runway Status Lights at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). (No longer available online.) MIT Lincoln Laboratory, archived from the original July 1, 2010 ; accessed on December 9, 2010 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / rwsl.ll.mit.edu
  34. ^ New Runway Safety Lights Installed at LAX. National Broadcasting Company , June 11, 2009; accessed December 9, 2010 .
  35. ↑ Jake Adams: ASDE-X and Runway Status Lights. (PDF; 797 kB) (No longer available online.) Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) , archived from the original on December 14, 2010 ; accessed on December 9, 2010 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lawa.org
  36. ↑ Internet Movie Database : "Mayday" Cleared for Disaster (TV episode 2010). Retrieved November 15, 2010 .

Coordinates: 33 ° 56 ′ 58 "  N , 118 ° 24 ′ 34"  W.