Flight with disabled controls: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 03:53, 8 March 2014

Revision as of 13:51, 8 March 2014

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*[[LOT Polish Airlines Flight 5055]], an [[Ilyushin Il-62]]M, on 9 May 1987. According to the Polish investigatory commission, the cause of the crash was the disintegration of an engine shaft due to faulty bearings inside engine No. 2, which seized, causing extensive heat. This in turn caused the consequent damage to engine No. 1, [[rapid decompression]] of the fuselage, and a fire in the cargo hold, as well as the loss of elevator controls and progressive electrical failures. Zygmunt Pawlaczyk decided to return to [[Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport|Warsaw Okecie Airport]] using only [[trim tab]]s to control the flight of the aircraft. He lost his struggle to land about 5&nbsp;km from the runway in the Kabacki Forest. All 172 passengers and 11 crew members perished.<ref>Gero 1997, p. 199.</ref>

*[[United Airlines Flight 232]], a [[McDonnell Douglas DC-10]], on 19 July 1989. A fan disk in the No. 2 engine fractured, severing most of the flight controls. [[Dennis E. Fitch|Dennis Fitch]], a [[Deadheading (aviation)|deadheading]] DC-10 instructor who had studied the case of [[Japan Airlines Flight 123|JAL Flight 123]], was able to help the pilots steer the aircraft using throttle differential. Despite the break-up of the aircraft on landing, 175 of 285 passengers and 10 of the 11 crew members survived.<ref>Gero 1997, p. 210.</ref>

*[[Baikal Airlines Flight 130]], a [[Tupolev Tu-154]], on 3 January 1994. When starting the engines before takeoff, the pilots noticed a warning light signaling dangerous rotation of the starter in engine #2. Believing the warning to be false and decided to take off anyway. During the initial climb, the starter failed and a fire broke out in the #2 engine. The fire damaged all three hydraulic lines, rendering the plane uncontrollable. After 12 minutes of the crew trying to control the sliding trajectory of the plane, it eventually crashed into a dairy farm near Mamony town at 500 km/h, killing all 125 people aboard,including 1 man on the ground.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wikimapia.org/24202438/The-monument-on-the-site-of-the-crash-of-Flight-130 |title=The monument on the site of the crash of Flight 130 &#124; memorial |publisher=Wikimapia.org |date=1994-01-03 |accessdate=2014-03-08}}</ref>

===Controls damaged by structural failure===

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*[[Japan Airlines Flight 123]], a [[Boeing 747]], on 12 August 1985. A faulty repair years earlier had weakened the aircraft's rear pressure bulkhead, which failed in flight. The [[vertical stabilizer]] and much of the aircraft's [[empennage]] was blown off during the decompression. The decompression also ruptured all four hydraulic lines which controlled the aircraft's mechanical flight controls. The pilots were able to continue flying the aircraft with very limited control, but after 32 minutes the aircraft crashed into a mountain, killing 520 of the 524 people aboard in the deadliest single aircraft disaster in history.<ref>Gero 1997, p. 189.</ref>

*[[Turkish Airlines Flight 981]], a [[McDonnell Douglas DC-10]], on 3 March 1974. Similar to American Airlines Flight 96, the flight experienced a [[explosive decompression]], when flying over the town of [[Meaux]], France, caused by a rear cargo door failure. The rear main cabin floor collapsed and severed all flight controls. While the plane went into a vertical dive, the captain called for "Speed!" meaning increasing engine thrust to pull the plane's nose up. The plane began to level out, but had lost too much altitude and slammed into the [[Ermenonville Forest]]. All 346 people on board were killed upon impact, and it became the worst single aircraft disaster without survivors, and the fourth deadliest aviation death count [[List of accidents and disasters by death toll#Aviation|aviation death count]] ever.<ref>"Accident Details." ''[http://www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cfm?file=/8-1976%20TC-JAV.pdf Accident to Turkish Airlines DC-10 TC-JAV in the Ermenonville Forest on 3 March 1974 Final Report]''. French State Secretariat for Transport. 1. Retrieved on 13 February 2011.</ref>

*[[Reeve Aleutian Airways]] Flight 8, a [[Lockheed L-188 Electra]], on 8 June 1983. Flying over [[Cold Bay, Alaska]], the plane's number 4 engine propeller separated and cut a hole in the plane, causing an explosive decompression, jammed flight controls, snapped throttle cables, and left the flight deck crew of three with only autopilot that had no lateral control. After managing to wrench the ailerons and elevators into minimal working condition, the crew tried to land at Anchorage at high speed. They had to make a go-around, but landed the on the second attempt, saving all 10 passengers on board.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief.aspx?ev_id=20001214X43286 |title=DCA83AA029 |publisher=Ntsb.gov |date=1983-06-08 |accessdate=2014-03-08}}</ref>

*[[Air Midwest Flight 5481]], a [[Beechcraft 1900D]], on 8 January 2003. On takeoff from [[Charlotte/Douglas International Airport]], it pitched up into a vertical ascent and stalled, only 37 seconds later smashing into a US Airways hangar, despite the captain applying full elevator down. There were 21 fatalities. The NTSB found out that the plane had been overweight and that during maintenance, the tension turnbuckles that governed elevator movement had been set incorrectly by an inexperienced mechanic. This caused the elevators to lose control upon takeoff.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/reports/2004/AAR0401.pdf. |title=Loss of Pitch Control During Takeoff Air Midwest Flight 5481 Raytheon (Beechcraft) 1900D, N233YV Charlotte, North Carolina January 8, 2003 |format=PDF |date= |accessdate=2014-03-08}}</ref>

*[[Air Transat Flight 961]], an [[Airbus A310]], on 6 March 2005, catastrophic structural failure: the rudder detached from the aircraft with a loud bang. The pilots regained enough control to land the aircraft safely.<ref>[http://www.bst.gc.ca/eng/rapports-reports/aviation/2005/a05f0047/a05f0047.pdf Flight 961 - Official accident report] www.bst.gc.ca Retrieved: 1 June 2010</ref>

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*The aircraft designer [[Roy Chadwick]] was killed on 23 August 1947 during a crash on take-off of the prototype [[Avro Tudor|Avro Tudor 2]], ''G-AGSU'', from Woodford airfield. The accident was due to an error in an overnight servicing in which the [[aileron]] control cables were inadvertently crossed.

*[[X-15 Flight 3-65-97]], a [[NASA]] [[test flight]] piloted by [[Michael J. Adams]], on 15 November 1967. Adams was killed when an electrical disturbance caused the degradation of flight controls in his [[North American X-15]] upon ascent. At 230,000 feet, the X-15 entered a [[Mach number|Mach 5]] spin. Adams used the minimal manual controls he had along with backup controls to attempt an emergency landing at [[Rogers Dry Lake]], but only served to throw the aircraft into a [[pilot induced oscillation]] and a Mach 3.93 inverted dive. The plane began to break up 10 minutes and 35 seconds after takeoff, destroying the X-15 and killing Adams instantly.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://history.nasa.gov/hyperrev-x15/ch-6.html |title=Transiting from Air to Space |publisher=History.nasa.gov |date= |accessdate=2014-03-08}}</ref>

==References==