LAZYB
Time wounds all heels.
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2001
- Posts
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THE MEMPHIS COMMERCIAL APPEAL, Wednesday, May 26, 2004
FedEx jet skidded on pilot Œcheck¹;
NTSB inquiry reveals earlier problems of first officer
By Bartholomew Sullivan
WASHINGTON --- Two minutes before a pre-Christmas FedEx flight from Oakland to Memphis made a hard landing that bucked its right landing gear, the captain joked to the first officer he was evaluating to ³keep it out of the grass.²
³I¹ll do my very best,² First Officer Robyn S. Sclair (family owns General Aviation News) responded, chuckling, according to a cockpit voice recorder.
But it was not to be. At 12:26 p.m. on December 18, the 358,000-pound MD-10, battling headwinds after a brief wind shear alert, hit the runway on its left landing gear first, traveled 58 feet, then landed hard on the right landing gear.
After rolling about 2,800 feet, the right landing gear collapsed, the plane skidded off the runway and into the grass, and caught fire. Of the two crew and five passengers, two received minor injuries, including Sclair, who had rope burns from a cockpit escape.
While the accident remains under investigation, and no conclusions or recommendations have been issued, the National Transportation Safety Board released factual findings on the accident on Tuesday. They indicate that at the time of the accident, Sclair was undergoing a company-mandated multi-leg
³line check,² or supervised evaluation, after deviating from an assigned altitude over England a month earlier.
The report reveals that Sclair, with FedEx since 1996, had received two previous unsatisfactory proficiency ratings on MD-11s in 1999 and 2001, but had received additional training and received satisfactory ratings both times.
Interviews the NTSB did with an unidentified FedEx pilot indicated that she had been late to work three out of 10 times in August and had received an advisory letter from company officials on December 8 warning against tardiness. In 1994, an unidentified previous employer indicated unsatisfactory proficiency ratings that year were the result of Sclair¹s ³generally poor airmanship²
Efforts to reach both Sclair and Capt. Richard W. Redditt through the Air Line Pilots Association were unsuccessful Tuesday. Both are on paid leave and are not flying pending the outcome of the investigation and an internal company probe, said FedEx spokesman Kristin S. Krause.
No damage cost estimates are available, Krause said.
The cockpit voice recorder also indicates that Redditt told an unidentified jumpseat passenger before the flight that Sclair had been coughing ³like crazy² on previous legs of the Memphis-Indianapolis-Oakland flight and that he thought she might have pneumonia.
In response to a garbled comment from the jumpseater, Redditt adds: ³I think she would have if it hadn¹t been so much scrutiny on this line check.² The recording picks up constant coughing and throat-clearing from Sclair as the plane descends over Arkansas into Memphis.
³Whatever happens today, I want to see a stable approach at 1,000 feet,² Redditt tells Sclair as she begins the descent. If the plane isn¹t stable, she¹s to ³go around² again, he says. ³No problem there,² she answers.
It was just a few days before Christmas and it was a blustery, gusty day as Flight 647 descended over Gilmore, Arkansas. An automated warning system alerted the crew to wind shear conditions at about 1,900 feet. But before it touched down, the plane appeared to passengers and Redditt to be properly
oriented.
On the ground, after the landing gear collapsed, the right wing caught fire and the plane had to be evacuated. When the inflatable escape slide was deployed, however, wind gusts blew it under the fuselage. The crew and five passengers had to escape through cockpit windows. Besides Sclair¹s rope
burns, another passenger fell, injuring a shoulder.
Before escaping, an amateur video obtained by the NTSB showed, those inside threw personal belongings, including Christmas presents, from the plane. In the wake of the accident, FedEx issued a directive that crews were to exit as expeditiously as possible in an emergency and not take unnecessary risks
to salvage personal baggage.
The accident also resulted in a Federal Aviation Administration advisory. Because the airport rescue crews expected only three crew, total, and seven people escaped the flight, the FAA recommended cargo operators provide personnel manifests for all incoming flights.
--------------------------------------------------------
Contact Washington correspondent Bartholomew Sullivan at (202) 408-2726.
FedEx jet skidded on pilot Œcheck¹;
NTSB inquiry reveals earlier problems of first officer
By Bartholomew Sullivan
WASHINGTON --- Two minutes before a pre-Christmas FedEx flight from Oakland to Memphis made a hard landing that bucked its right landing gear, the captain joked to the first officer he was evaluating to ³keep it out of the grass.²
³I¹ll do my very best,² First Officer Robyn S. Sclair (family owns General Aviation News) responded, chuckling, according to a cockpit voice recorder.
But it was not to be. At 12:26 p.m. on December 18, the 358,000-pound MD-10, battling headwinds after a brief wind shear alert, hit the runway on its left landing gear first, traveled 58 feet, then landed hard on the right landing gear.
After rolling about 2,800 feet, the right landing gear collapsed, the plane skidded off the runway and into the grass, and caught fire. Of the two crew and five passengers, two received minor injuries, including Sclair, who had rope burns from a cockpit escape.
While the accident remains under investigation, and no conclusions or recommendations have been issued, the National Transportation Safety Board released factual findings on the accident on Tuesday. They indicate that at the time of the accident, Sclair was undergoing a company-mandated multi-leg
³line check,² or supervised evaluation, after deviating from an assigned altitude over England a month earlier.
The report reveals that Sclair, with FedEx since 1996, had received two previous unsatisfactory proficiency ratings on MD-11s in 1999 and 2001, but had received additional training and received satisfactory ratings both times.
Interviews the NTSB did with an unidentified FedEx pilot indicated that she had been late to work three out of 10 times in August and had received an advisory letter from company officials on December 8 warning against tardiness. In 1994, an unidentified previous employer indicated unsatisfactory proficiency ratings that year were the result of Sclair¹s ³generally poor airmanship²
Efforts to reach both Sclair and Capt. Richard W. Redditt through the Air Line Pilots Association were unsuccessful Tuesday. Both are on paid leave and are not flying pending the outcome of the investigation and an internal company probe, said FedEx spokesman Kristin S. Krause.
No damage cost estimates are available, Krause said.
The cockpit voice recorder also indicates that Redditt told an unidentified jumpseat passenger before the flight that Sclair had been coughing ³like crazy² on previous legs of the Memphis-Indianapolis-Oakland flight and that he thought she might have pneumonia.
In response to a garbled comment from the jumpseater, Redditt adds: ³I think she would have if it hadn¹t been so much scrutiny on this line check.² The recording picks up constant coughing and throat-clearing from Sclair as the plane descends over Arkansas into Memphis.
³Whatever happens today, I want to see a stable approach at 1,000 feet,² Redditt tells Sclair as she begins the descent. If the plane isn¹t stable, she¹s to ³go around² again, he says. ³No problem there,² she answers.
It was just a few days before Christmas and it was a blustery, gusty day as Flight 647 descended over Gilmore, Arkansas. An automated warning system alerted the crew to wind shear conditions at about 1,900 feet. But before it touched down, the plane appeared to passengers and Redditt to be properly
oriented.
On the ground, after the landing gear collapsed, the right wing caught fire and the plane had to be evacuated. When the inflatable escape slide was deployed, however, wind gusts blew it under the fuselage. The crew and five passengers had to escape through cockpit windows. Besides Sclair¹s rope
burns, another passenger fell, injuring a shoulder.
Before escaping, an amateur video obtained by the NTSB showed, those inside threw personal belongings, including Christmas presents, from the plane. In the wake of the accident, FedEx issued a directive that crews were to exit as expeditiously as possible in an emergency and not take unnecessary risks
to salvage personal baggage.
The accident also resulted in a Federal Aviation Administration advisory. Because the airport rescue crews expected only three crew, total, and seven people escaped the flight, the FAA recommended cargo operators provide personnel manifests for all incoming flights.
--------------------------------------------------------
Contact Washington correspondent Bartholomew Sullivan at (202) 408-2726.
