United Airlines 266 crashed in 1969 during a routine flight. The unusual circumstances of a #1 engine fire should not have caused a power failure … or did it?
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When accident investigations are conducted, very little specialized attention is given to the aircraft and the maintaining of it. However, less attention is given to some of the most important aspects of an accident: communication. The authors of ‘English in Global Aviation’ provide insight into that omission.
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Boeing’s new B737-MAX design was unfairly blamed over a year ago for the accidents of both Lion Air 610 and Ethiopian Airlines 302. The Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 Interim Report was published; the report did nothing to convince anyone that the B737-MAX was to blame and did more to prove fault was misdirected.
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In 1987, the NTSB published accident report AAR-87/01. It blamed two pilots for the crime of Pilot Error, a determination that was not just wrong, but professionally naive.
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A small airline regional crashes in Puerto Rico. It would appear that the accident was not difficult to investigate, unless the investigators looked in the wrong place.
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Avianca 52, a Boeing 707, crashed 19 miles shy of JFK International Airport due to fuel starvation. However, the impact of this accident should have been more wide-reaching, if only the investigation had been done correctly.
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On a routine flight across the Atlantic, a Swissair MD-11 rapidly became the victim of poor engineering and improper oversight.
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The result of the Northwest Airlink flight 5719 accident is what happens when the Board Members, who have responsibility of accident report accuracy, do not push back on the writing of an accident report?
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While the world hung upon the investigatory findings of the NTSB, the outcome of their investigation missed the obvious, one major issue that directly contributed to this accident.
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In December 2005, a Flying Boat Inc. Grumman Turbo Mallard crashed off of the coast of Miami, Florida. What was determined by the accident investigation had, consequently, already been discovered two years prior.
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On May 5, 1983, an Eastern Airlines L-1011, suffered a shutdown of all three engines due to a simultaneous loss of engine oil. The aircraft was the victim of a cultural issue at Eastern.
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In May 1935, a TWA Douglas DC-2 crashed. It was inspiring to see what the talents of that decade could determine in the absence of evidence.
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On February 24, 1989, United Flight 811 suffered a separation of its forward cargo door in flight. The resulting NTSB investigation focused on the wrong maintenance issues.
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In March 1987, with Northwest Airlink 2268, the NTSB chose to ‘Blame-the-FAA’ as opposed to investing resources into the investigation.
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When two DC-10-10 aircraft, from the same operator, crashed under nearly identical circumstances, the similarities of the two accidents should have been recognized and more experienced resources should have been invested into the investigations.
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When British Airways PLC flight 5390 suffered a rapid decompression in flight, the cause was a troubling maintenance issue. Fortunately, the British investigatory group understood maintenance issues.
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In February 2019, Atlas Air flight 3591, a B767-300ER, crashed in Trinity Bay outside Houston airport. Nine months later (and counting) the NTSB failed to address the possible causes of the B767 accident. This oversight occurred despite the fact that the B767 remained - and still remains - a popular airliner in both the passenger and cargo industry.
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ValuJet 592 crashed on May 11, 1996, following take-off out of Miami International Airport. What should have been a straightforward investigation turned into an overly involved search for problems that did not contribute to, and diverted much-needed attention from, the root cause.
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In 1992, US Airways flight 405 crashed on its takeoff roll out of LaGuardia Airport in a frozen precipitation event. Much of US Airways deicing program played into the accident.
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LAS was a Colombian airline. The December 2003 accident investigation should have been focused on what happened, not unpopular theories.
Photo by Casper Kolenbrander
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