Flight 173 Essay
Portland United Airlines Flight 173 Aviation has morphed into the safest way of traveling so far in the world. It is a simple way to get from one place to another with the straightest route and the convince of being the fastest form of transportation. Even though aviation is one of the most convenient and accommodating forms of transport, we as Americans seem to only focus on the negative aspects of aviation travel. Since the dawn of aviation itself, traveling by air has proven a challenge, and discomfort for much of the American population. Let us delve into one of these incidences, of which deals with the human error surrounding the crew of American Airline’s flight 173, whom lost their lives due to human and mechanical error.
United Airlines …show more content…
Flight 173 was a flight from New York to Portland Oregon on December 28, 1978. Researchers could not figure out if it was a crew problem or a mechanical problem that caused the crash. The problem was that just prior to landing the of the Douglas DC-8 they tried switching the landing gear down but the light did not flash that the landing gear was down.
After the captain realized that there was an electrical issue with the landing gear he radioed for atc for help. The problem is that the pilot repeatedly circled the airport and thought nothing of putting the plane on the ground safely. It is a hard decision to make figuring out weather to risk landing the plane and gambling if the landing gear was actually down or not. The pilots on the Douglas DC-8 were captain Malburn McBroom who was a world war 2 veteran and learned to fly after the war. The first officer was Roderick Beebe and the third man of the flight was Forrest Mendenhall. His job was to keep watch and care for the 4 engines of the DC-8 airplane. Captain McBroom was a very experienced pilot for United Airlines and logged over 5,000 hours of flight time in a Douglas DC-8. First officer Beebe also was a very experienced pilot also logging almost 5,000 hours of flight time in the DC-8 too. The air traffic controller Edward Kingrey was on duty during the time of the accident. The flight went smoothly from New York to Denver. As Flight 173 was approaching Portland it was not …show more content…
busy so there was no problem with delays on approach. Captain McBroom received clearance for landing at Portland airport. Just before landing the crew realized that the landing gear did not successfully go down all the way. McBroom makes the choice to circle the airport in order to figure out the situation and solve the problem like any pilot would do. After circling the airport for an hour or so the crew forgets to check the fuel levels of the plane. The plane was 18 miles from the airport but did not have enough fuel to reach that distance. McBroom’s next plan was to find a safe secure place to land within the area the DC-8 was at. By this time the plane lost engines 1 and 2 and before that they did not have power to engines 3 and 4. When the engines go out on a Douglas DC-8 is shuts down all electrical power except for the emergency power that powers only to the instruments that are critically needed. To be a captain in a time of emergency you must make very precise decisions and keep the passengers calm and under control. The DC-8 was losing more than 3,000 feet per minute and was lucky if it could stay in the air for longer than a few minutes. The captain decides to aim to land in an open field where no damage will be done to residents in Portland. At this point the crew contacts ATC and declares mayday for they know their percentage of safe landing is diminishing quickly. As the plane gets closer to the open field they realize that it is actually a residential area inside the woods. The Douglas DC-8 touches down in the woods losing both its wings and noticeably scratched up hull. The crash was around 500 meters long and was lucky to not hit any real barriers that would make the plane crash and be destroyed. The passengers eventually walked out of the plane with 10 killed and 28 passengers injured. The news report said that the plane crashed 5 miles south east of the airport in a residential area. 2 homes were hit and 1 was disintegrated. All the passengers were still coping with the shock of the crash and the adrenaline along with it when the news team arrived. the next day NTSB inspectors investigate the wreckage and learn the leading causes to the accident. First officer Beebe and engineer Forrest Mendinhall both lost their life to this accident and 8 other passengers. When the investigators started interviewing the civilians on the plane during the accident they describe that just an hour before the events took place they felt a massive thud that shook the whole plane. After a couple of minutes the flight engineer came down the aisle to look out the window to see if the plane was working correctly. Then the captain announced over the intercom that the landing gear wasn’t working correctly. Captains always must have the passengers in mind when flying to be sure they have a safe pleasant flight. To investigate the crash the NTSB gathered the flight recorders from the plane. There were two recorders: the flight data to see what was going on during the flight, and the voice recorder is used to listen to why things happened. In the voice recorder ATC only contacted captain McBroom when there was a plane close to them. it was the captain’s decision if he wanted to land the aircraft or not. Captain McBroom was persistent on fixing the landing gear problem of the aircraft but as time was running short the excess amount of fuel did not take long to burn up and engines started shutting down. The investigators of the NTSB found the faulty landing gear and saw that there was a rusted bolt in the part that raises and lowers the landing gear.
On a Douglas DC-8 there are two rods, one for each wing that spring up when the landing gear is down. The flight engineer could’ve possibly went and checked if the landing gear was down manually. This accident was not a very unique accident to be fair of flight 173 but is a rare thing to come across. Some accidents that are very similar to this include the 2008 British Airways flight 38. The landing gear was faulty and did not go down all the way. These two flights are very similar in terms of cause of accident. Yes, the DC-8 did crash because of fuel loss but if Captain McBroom did not decide to fly a holding pattern around Portland then he would’ve maybe ended the same way British Airways Flight 38 did. No passengers were killed in that accident. Going back to the DC-8 crash they did miss one thing they might have overlooked. The Lightbulb powering the landing gear light may have been faulty. This could be the case but the real problem was the excessive burning of fuel during the flight. An average DC-8 burns fuel at a rate of 13,000 lbs. of fuel per hour but showing that they did have more than enough fuel to get from Denver to Portland then why did they run out of fuel in such a short time. Some other factors that
could account for the problem are that Douglas DC-8 aircrafts do have a tendency of reading fuel measurements wrong or higher than normal. Around 15 minutes before running out of fuel the captain makes a decision to take one last circle around Portland which would take 15 minutes but the DC-8 only had fuel for around 14 minutes left. The captain just wanted more time to be sure of his landing and to also make sure that the passengers were ready for an aggressive landing on or by the airport. McBroom was very persistent on fixing the landing gear problem to only find out that it was down and ready. This accident should never have happened if McBroom and his team had only checked the landing gear lock indicators on the top of the wing. Human error was coming into play very quickly as the clock was ticking for the crew. McBroom was so concerned about the landing gear he did not recognize the fuel levels. This could also be considered a Swiss cheese model of how the DC-8 went down. First the landing gear problems, then the holding pattern, then the fuel levels, and finally engine failure. If McBroom and Beebe had only talked about the risk rewards of each scenario then this would’ve been not as big of an issue. As a result, to this accident, the NTSB saw that pilots needed to be better trained to communicate with each other when in an issue of safety of flight. From the 1970’s to the 1980’s there was a trend in accidents involving lack of communication and understanding. The Tenerife disaster was due to lack of communication and the pilots assumed their commands. Some other accidents involving lack of communication are Eastern Airlines flight 401 which was very similar to United airlines flight 173. Landing gear locking issues caused the flight crew to focus on that issue and they ran out of fuel. As a result, they crash landed in the everglades. There were over 100 fatalities. Many people thought that aviation was going to be a failing way of transportation because of the 1970’s human error accidents. Around this time CRM was invented and founded as a way for pilots to communicate and work together more defiantly.
United Airlines was the first company to incorporate CRM into training and troubleshooting all possible scenarios. Today all major airliners are using CRM and trying to work our way to diminishing human error to the lowest it can possibly be. Aviation has grown from its failures and also learned from its success in the world. Aviation has morphed into the safest way of traveling so far in the world.
United Airlines …show more content…
Flight 173 was a flight from New York to Portland Oregon on December 28, 1978. Researchers could not figure out if it was a crew problem or a mechanical problem that caused the crash. The problem was that just prior to landing the of the Douglas DC-8 they tried switching the landing gear down but the light did not flash that the landing gear was down.
After the captain realized that there was an electrical issue with the landing gear he radioed for atc for help. The problem is that the pilot repeatedly circled the airport and thought nothing of putting the plane on the ground safely. It is a hard decision to make figuring out weather to risk landing the plane and gambling if the landing gear was actually down or not. The pilots on the Douglas DC-8 were captain Malburn McBroom who was a world war 2 veteran and learned to fly after the war. The first officer was Roderick Beebe and the third man of the flight was Forrest Mendenhall. His job was to keep watch and care for the 4 engines of the DC-8 airplane. Captain McBroom was a very experienced pilot for United Airlines and logged over 5,000 hours of flight time in a Douglas DC-8. First officer Beebe also was a very experienced pilot also logging almost 5,000 hours of flight time in the DC-8 too. The air traffic controller Edward Kingrey was on duty during the time of the accident. The flight went smoothly from New York to Denver. As Flight 173 was approaching Portland it was not …show more content…
busy so there was no problem with delays on approach. Captain McBroom received clearance for landing at Portland airport. Just before landing the crew realized that the landing gear did not successfully go down all the way. McBroom makes the choice to circle the airport in order to figure out the situation and solve the problem like any pilot would do. After circling the airport for an hour or so the crew forgets to check the fuel levels of the plane. The plane was 18 miles from the airport but did not have enough fuel to reach that distance. McBroom’s next plan was to find a safe secure place to land within the area the DC-8 was at. By this time the plane lost engines 1 and 2 and before that they did not have power to engines 3 and 4. When the engines go out on a Douglas DC-8 is shuts down all electrical power except for the emergency power that powers only to the instruments that are critically needed. To be a captain in a time of emergency you must make very precise decisions and keep the passengers calm and under control. The DC-8 was losing more than 3,000 feet per minute and was lucky if it could stay in the air for longer than a few minutes. The captain decides to aim to land in an open field where no damage will be done to residents in Portland. At this point the crew contacts ATC and declares mayday for they know their percentage of safe landing is diminishing quickly. As the plane gets closer to the open field they realize that it is actually a residential area inside the woods. The Douglas DC-8 touches down in the woods losing both its wings and noticeably scratched up hull. The crash was around 500 meters long and was lucky to not hit any real barriers that would make the plane crash and be destroyed. The passengers eventually walked out of the plane with 10 killed and 28 passengers injured. The news report said that the plane crashed 5 miles south east of the airport in a residential area. 2 homes were hit and 1 was disintegrated. All the passengers were still coping with the shock of the crash and the adrenaline along with it when the news team arrived. the next day NTSB inspectors investigate the wreckage and learn the leading causes to the accident. First officer Beebe and engineer Forrest Mendinhall both lost their life to this accident and 8 other passengers. When the investigators started interviewing the civilians on the plane during the accident they describe that just an hour before the events took place they felt a massive thud that shook the whole plane. After a couple of minutes the flight engineer came down the aisle to look out the window to see if the plane was working correctly. Then the captain announced over the intercom that the landing gear wasn’t working correctly. Captains always must have the passengers in mind when flying to be sure they have a safe pleasant flight. To investigate the crash the NTSB gathered the flight recorders from the plane. There were two recorders: the flight data to see what was going on during the flight, and the voice recorder is used to listen to why things happened. In the voice recorder ATC only contacted captain McBroom when there was a plane close to them. it was the captain’s decision if he wanted to land the aircraft or not. Captain McBroom was persistent on fixing the landing gear problem of the aircraft but as time was running short the excess amount of fuel did not take long to burn up and engines started shutting down. The investigators of the NTSB found the faulty landing gear and saw that there was a rusted bolt in the part that raises and lowers the landing gear.
On a Douglas DC-8 there are two rods, one for each wing that spring up when the landing gear is down. The flight engineer could’ve possibly went and checked if the landing gear was down manually. This accident was not a very unique accident to be fair of flight 173 but is a rare thing to come across. Some accidents that are very similar to this include the 2008 British Airways flight 38. The landing gear was faulty and did not go down all the way. These two flights are very similar in terms of cause of accident. Yes, the DC-8 did crash because of fuel loss but if Captain McBroom did not decide to fly a holding pattern around Portland then he would’ve maybe ended the same way British Airways Flight 38 did. No passengers were killed in that accident. Going back to the DC-8 crash they did miss one thing they might have overlooked. The Lightbulb powering the landing gear light may have been faulty. This could be the case but the real problem was the excessive burning of fuel during the flight. An average DC-8 burns fuel at a rate of 13,000 lbs. of fuel per hour but showing that they did have more than enough fuel to get from Denver to Portland then why did they run out of fuel in such a short time. Some other factors that
could account for the problem are that Douglas DC-8 aircrafts do have a tendency of reading fuel measurements wrong or higher than normal. Around 15 minutes before running out of fuel the captain makes a decision to take one last circle around Portland which would take 15 minutes but the DC-8 only had fuel for around 14 minutes left. The captain just wanted more time to be sure of his landing and to also make sure that the passengers were ready for an aggressive landing on or by the airport. McBroom was very persistent on fixing the landing gear problem to only find out that it was down and ready. This accident should never have happened if McBroom and his team had only checked the landing gear lock indicators on the top of the wing. Human error was coming into play very quickly as the clock was ticking for the crew. McBroom was so concerned about the landing gear he did not recognize the fuel levels. This could also be considered a Swiss cheese model of how the DC-8 went down. First the landing gear problems, then the holding pattern, then the fuel levels, and finally engine failure. If McBroom and Beebe had only talked about the risk rewards of each scenario then this would’ve been not as big of an issue. As a result, to this accident, the NTSB saw that pilots needed to be better trained to communicate with each other when in an issue of safety of flight. From the 1970’s to the 1980’s there was a trend in accidents involving lack of communication and understanding. The Tenerife disaster was due to lack of communication and the pilots assumed their commands. Some other accidents involving lack of communication are Eastern Airlines flight 401 which was very similar to United airlines flight 173. Landing gear locking issues caused the flight crew to focus on that issue and they ran out of fuel. As a result, they crash landed in the everglades. There were over 100 fatalities. Many people thought that aviation was going to be a failing way of transportation because of the 1970’s human error accidents. Around this time CRM was invented and founded as a way for pilots to communicate and work together more defiantly.
United Airlines was the first company to incorporate CRM into training and troubleshooting all possible scenarios. Today all major airliners are using CRM and trying to work our way to diminishing human error to the lowest it can possibly be. Aviation has grown from its failures and also learned from its success in the world. Aviation has morphed into the safest way of traveling so far in the world.