--Previous Message-- I always wondered that about 401 myself: the cockpit radio was on, correct? They should have been able to hear the Air Traffic Controller. I would think the ATC guy would have been shouting at them after seeing them descend like that. Captain Blackburn, have you seen any of the documents surrounding the crash of American Eagle 4184, Roselawn Indiana, October 31, 1994? I ask because of your comments about one pilot remaining in charge of the aircraft in the time of a crisis. The FAA/NTSB have declared that icing on the boots on the ATR-72 brought that plane down. However, according to the French investigation, that indeed was the symptom, whereas cockpit negligence was the disease. Large portions of the CVR was omitted in the official documents about the accident. The reason is that apparently the Captain, First Officer, and flight attendants had quite a "party" atmosphere in the cockpit during the flight. In the seven minutes prior to the crash, the Captain was not even in the cockpit; rather, he was at the back of the aircraft goofing off with one of the stewardesses. The First Officer was all alone, stuck in a holding pattern for O'Hare, in foggy and icy conditions. The clear implication from the French report is, had the Captain remained in the cockpit at the controls, the situation with the icing most certainly would have been noticed, and steps could have been taken. I guess in that case, the Captain's lack of attention is what CAUSED the crisis, instead of exacerbating it. I lived 30 miles from the crash site, and I know the family who owns the soybean farm where the plane went down. Having worked in the biz, it affected me very deeply. Also, several of the passengers were from my alma mater, Purdue University. I liked reading your post. I miss working for United very much (believe it or not!). Aviation gets in your blood...and I was only an attendant. I cannot imagine the joy of being a pilot. There must be nothing else like it.
: I was a Captain with EAL and flew thousands of
: hours on the EAL L-1011, years after the
: crash. I did not ever see the ghost of
: my old buddy, Don Repo, on any of those
: flights, however.
: Don and I flew on many flights together to
: Europe on Eastern's MAC Charter
: (USAF)flights...he as Second Officer and
: me as First Officer...back in 1967-1969.
: This crash brought out, once again, that in
: any emergency or unusual occurrence, the
: Captain has to designate one pilot to FLY
: OR MONITOR THE AIRCRAFT and NOT be
: involved in the actions to remedy the
: problem. For a
: few years, I instructed in the EAL flight
: simulator training program. We emphasized
: that it was crucial that one pilot would
: be designated to only fly or monitor the
: flight of the aircraft.
: It is a shame that the Approach Controller
: failed to use standard phraseology when he
: saw the flight only 900 feet from the
: ground and descending. If he had only
: said, Check your altitude...I show you at 900
: feet" it could have saved them.
: Don Repo was a great guy. I didn't know Capt.
: Loft or the First Officer. I did hear that
: Capt. Loft had an un-diagnosed brain tumor
: the size of a golf ball, that was
: discovered at his autopsy. This could
: account for his irritability during the
: problem. Never did get a confirmation of
: this,however.
: Thanks again for some great research on this
: documentary.
: - Capt. Jim Blackburn (EAL, Ret.)
:
:
God bless you, good sir...the aviation industry needs more good folks like you. Truly one of the perks of working for United was getting the opportunity to hear the pilots talk shop. Yours is one of the most stressful, responsible jobs in the world...and also one of the most wonderful. I always loved going into the cockpit for that beautiful big window to the heavens. It was a nice job for a 21 year old college student, even if I did seem to get all of the crappy 737 flights to exciting places like Des Moines that originated at 5:00am all of the time!
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