All
← Back to Squawk list
Multiple Failures Put Learjet 35A into the Atlantic
Poor training, actions, coordination and oversight put Learjet 35 into the Atlantic... (aviationweek.com) More...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
Only failure I see here is an incompetent crew, which is substantiated by the accident.
Not the crew - the tower. I dnk how it is in yankee land, but up here in da Great White Nord, when you declare a mayday, it's the towers responsibility to clear the airspace, which in this case they did not do. NTSB just picked on the obvious - Mexican pilots.
Clearing the airspace for 100 miles in all directions wouldn't have changed the outcome.
Well, I am from the great white north and ATC had absolutely nothing to do with the outcome. Poorly trained crew on an aircraft that can outperform most on one engine, you just have to know your a/c. Now think, what if it was a departure from an uncontrolled airport.....who do you blame it on now? I mean come on, msl airport, lightly loaded and straight out over the F,.kg ocean, it don't get much easier than that!
I'd be willin to bet the T/R deploy light was illuminated all the way to the water. Shades of Payne Stewart event, as in, all on the crew and training, or none! The Aeronca TR's were the worst on the 35 series and flew a couple with them pinned.
Payne Stewart - the golfer whose plane pancacked into SD? That was cabin pressure not a thrust reverser. All the training in the world would not have saved them. Even the USAF jets that flew alongside noted the windows completed frosted over.
I didn't say the crashes occurred for the same mechanical reason, the implication was all about an inexperienced, improperly trained crew, as in what Highflyer said. When all of their responses were inappropriate, and totally in disagreement with the checklist, it ain't the airplane or the controller.
ATC has everything to do with it. It's their obligation to direct them back to the field, instead of making them go up to 4000msl. It wasn't from an uncontrolled field. It was from FLL! And they had just flown three hours from SJO - FLL. You don't hear anything from the left seat only the right.
They were given numerous vectors back to the field (which would still have been in visible range) and didn't -- or couldn't -- follow them. I haven't looked for the transcripts, but I assume the climb instructions ended with a "if able" qualifier.
Direct quote: "When it reached an altitude of about 2,200 ft. and a groundspeed of 200 kt., the copilot requested radar vectors to return to the runway due to an “engine failure.” The controller directed the flight to maintain 4,000 ft. and turn to a heading of 340 deg. The copilot replied, “Not possible” and requested a 180-deg. turn back to the airport. Two minutes later, the copilot declared a “Mayday!” and again requested vectors back to FLL. During the next 3 min., the copilot requested vectors to the airport multiple times."
Now it doesn't appear that atc was obliging him. Because that reverser was still in play - that's what caused the crash. The NTSB is quick to point out, the Mexican standards for licensing are not up the USofA. So be it, but I wouldn't have maligned the pilots who were desperatly trying to save the aircraft and themselves - by not running a checklist.
And, that's all I have to write for now. Flame away!
Now it doesn't appear that atc was obliging him. Because that reverser was still in play - that's what caused the crash. The NTSB is quick to point out, the Mexican standards for licensing are not up the USofA. So be it, but I wouldn't have maligned the pilots who were desperatly trying to save the aircraft and themselves - by not running a checklist.
And, that's all I have to write for now. Flame away!