Turbinehead
One Dot High
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- Jul 15, 2002
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Jet crash followed ‘fun,’ papers show
Pilots took plane to maximum altitude.
Published Sunday, March 6, 2005
ST. LOUIS (AP) - A pilot aboard a doomed regional jet told an air traffic controller moments before an October crash that he and his co-pilot "decided to have a little fun" by flying at the plane’s maximum altitude.
Cockpit transcripts the St. Louis Post-Disptach obtained from the Federal Aviation Administration describe the rapid descent of the Pinnacle Airlines Corp. plane after it lost engine power on Oct. 14.
An emergency landing was attempted, but the plane crashed into a residential neighborhood in Jefferson City, killing Capt. Jesse Rhodes and First Officer Richard Peter Cesarz.
There were no passsengers on the plane, and no one on the ground was injured.
Federal investigators said shortly after the crash that they were studying whether altitude contributed to the loss of engine power in the 50-seat plane affiliated with Northwest Airlines.
The problem is first hinted at in the transcipts when an air traffic controller in Kansas City told the pilots it was was rare to see the plane flying at an altitude of 41,000 feet.
"Yeah, we’re actually . . . we don’t have any passengers on board, so we decided to have a little fun and come up here," one of the pilots said. The transcripts don’t identify whether Rhodes or Cesarz made the statement.
But the pilot soon told air traffic controllers that the CRJ2 wouldn’t remain at that altitude for long.
"I don’t think he had enough gas up there; he was so slow," one air traffic controller said.
The transcripts then describe the conversations between the pilots and the air traffic controllers as the first engine loses power followed by the second engine at 13,000 feet.
"We’re going to need a little lower to start this other engine up, so we’re going to go down to about 12 or 11. Is that cool?" the pilot asked.
A few moments later, he reported double engine failure, according to the transcripts.
The last contact that air traffic controllers had with the plane was at 9,000 feet, when the pilot reported an airport beacon in sight.
Earlier that day, the jet had aborted a scheduled flight with passengers from Little Rock, Ark., after an indicator light went on for part of its bleed-air system. The system pulls hot, compressed air from the engines to heat other components of the plane.
An airplane indicator light signaled a potential problem with the bleed-air sensing loop, which uses heat to determine whether air is leaking from the engine.
The plane’s loop was replaced before it took off for Minneapolis with just the crew. Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Pilots took plane to maximum altitude.
Published Sunday, March 6, 2005
ST. LOUIS (AP) - A pilot aboard a doomed regional jet told an air traffic controller moments before an October crash that he and his co-pilot "decided to have a little fun" by flying at the plane’s maximum altitude.
Cockpit transcripts the St. Louis Post-Disptach obtained from the Federal Aviation Administration describe the rapid descent of the Pinnacle Airlines Corp. plane after it lost engine power on Oct. 14.
An emergency landing was attempted, but the plane crashed into a residential neighborhood in Jefferson City, killing Capt. Jesse Rhodes and First Officer Richard Peter Cesarz.
There were no passsengers on the plane, and no one on the ground was injured.
Federal investigators said shortly after the crash that they were studying whether altitude contributed to the loss of engine power in the 50-seat plane affiliated with Northwest Airlines.
The problem is first hinted at in the transcipts when an air traffic controller in Kansas City told the pilots it was was rare to see the plane flying at an altitude of 41,000 feet.
"Yeah, we’re actually . . . we don’t have any passengers on board, so we decided to have a little fun and come up here," one of the pilots said. The transcripts don’t identify whether Rhodes or Cesarz made the statement.
But the pilot soon told air traffic controllers that the CRJ2 wouldn’t remain at that altitude for long.
"I don’t think he had enough gas up there; he was so slow," one air traffic controller said.
The transcripts then describe the conversations between the pilots and the air traffic controllers as the first engine loses power followed by the second engine at 13,000 feet.
"We’re going to need a little lower to start this other engine up, so we’re going to go down to about 12 or 11. Is that cool?" the pilot asked.
A few moments later, he reported double engine failure, according to the transcripts.
The last contact that air traffic controllers had with the plane was at 9,000 feet, when the pilot reported an airport beacon in sight.
Earlier that day, the jet had aborted a scheduled flight with passengers from Little Rock, Ark., after an indicator light went on for part of its bleed-air system. The system pulls hot, compressed air from the engines to heat other components of the plane.
An airplane indicator light signaled a potential problem with the bleed-air sensing loop, which uses heat to determine whether air is leaking from the engine.
The plane’s loop was replaced before it took off for Minneapolis with just the crew. Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
