Wall Street Journal
* SEPTEMBER 25, 2010
NTSB Cites Pilot Fatigue in 2009 Delta Landing
By ANDY PASZTOR
Federal accident investigators have released a report indicating that cockpit fatigue, highlighted by a captain who had been awake for roughly 23 hours, likely was a big factor in a Delta Air Lines Inc. jet that mistakenly landed on an Atlanta taxiway last fall.
Released on Thursday, The National Transportation Safety Board's report provides fresh evidence about the insidious dangers of pilot fatigue—an issue that remains at the forefront of the debate over how to enhance the safety of commercial aviation in the U.S. and overseas.
The board's summary provides new information about the sequence of events before dawn on Oct. 19, when a Delta Boeing 767 widebody jet touched down on a 75-foot taxiway instead of a 150-foot wide parallel runway at Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport. The details underscore how long-range flights can lead to sleepy and distracted pilots during the critical, final phases before touchdown.
The unusual incident involving Delta Flight 60, en route from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, prompted widespread news coverage at the time. None of the 182 passengers aboard the Boeing 767-300 was injured, and the pilots continue to work for the airline.
But the report recounts how a series of distractions and errors led to ultimate mix-up. They included a sick crew member, last-minute changes in runway clearances and inoperative runway lights.
The safety board's report—while not officially identifying the probable cause of the incident—also indicates that Delta didn't have an official, comprehensive fatigue-management program in place last October. The report notes that the pilots told investigators they weren't aware of corporate fatigue-management guides. That information, the pilots told the board, was distributed primarily to crews assigned to fly even longer runs—called ultra-long range routes—stretching for 16 hours or more.
The difficulties for Delta Flight 60 started long before takeoff, when the captain woke up early in Brazil on Oct. 18 and then tried unsuccessfully to nap before reporting to work that evening. He had been up for roughly 11 consecutive hours before starting his workday that same evening, according to investigators.
During the early portion of the roughly 10-hour flight, the captain wasn't able to leave the cockpit to take his customary rest period, because the crew member who would have relieved him became ill and was incapacitated in the aircraft's cabin with an intestinal disorder. So the two-person crew flew the entire trip without a break.
Before descending toward Atlanta, where the winds were calm and visibility was good, the cockpit-voice recorder picked up sounds of yawns and crew-member references to lack of sleep. The captain told the first officer that for the impending approach, the "highest threat is fatigue," according to the report.
Based on the safety board's analysis, part of the crew's confusion stemmed from the fact that certain runway lights and navigational aids weren't operating that morning. When investigators conducted flights tests to precisely replicate conditions on the day of the incident, the report notes, pilots had trouble discerning the runway on which the Delta flight had been cleared to land. But the test pilots could easily identify lights associated with the taxiway, located 200 feet to the north.
Equipment in the airport tower, however, wasn't calibrated to identify such mistakes, so controllers never warned the crew of Flight 60 that the jet was lined up incorrectly. Four seconds prior to touchdown, according to the report, is when the cockpit recorder picked up the captain's first comment that the plane was about to land on a taxiway.
Delta previously said it planned to retrain the pilots and return them to flight status. FAA officials previously said they crew made an inadvertent mistake, adding that the agency was focused on fully understanding what happened and preventing a repeat of the same mistakes.
Write to Andy Pasztor
* SEPTEMBER 25, 2010
NTSB Cites Pilot Fatigue in 2009 Delta Landing
By ANDY PASZTOR
Federal accident investigators have released a report indicating that cockpit fatigue, highlighted by a captain who had been awake for roughly 23 hours, likely was a big factor in a Delta Air Lines Inc. jet that mistakenly landed on an Atlanta taxiway last fall.
Released on Thursday, The National Transportation Safety Board's report provides fresh evidence about the insidious dangers of pilot fatigue—an issue that remains at the forefront of the debate over how to enhance the safety of commercial aviation in the U.S. and overseas.
The board's summary provides new information about the sequence of events before dawn on Oct. 19, when a Delta Boeing 767 widebody jet touched down on a 75-foot taxiway instead of a 150-foot wide parallel runway at Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport. The details underscore how long-range flights can lead to sleepy and distracted pilots during the critical, final phases before touchdown.
The unusual incident involving Delta Flight 60, en route from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, prompted widespread news coverage at the time. None of the 182 passengers aboard the Boeing 767-300 was injured, and the pilots continue to work for the airline.
But the report recounts how a series of distractions and errors led to ultimate mix-up. They included a sick crew member, last-minute changes in runway clearances and inoperative runway lights.
The safety board's report—while not officially identifying the probable cause of the incident—also indicates that Delta didn't have an official, comprehensive fatigue-management program in place last October. The report notes that the pilots told investigators they weren't aware of corporate fatigue-management guides. That information, the pilots told the board, was distributed primarily to crews assigned to fly even longer runs—called ultra-long range routes—stretching for 16 hours or more.
The difficulties for Delta Flight 60 started long before takeoff, when the captain woke up early in Brazil on Oct. 18 and then tried unsuccessfully to nap before reporting to work that evening. He had been up for roughly 11 consecutive hours before starting his workday that same evening, according to investigators.
During the early portion of the roughly 10-hour flight, the captain wasn't able to leave the cockpit to take his customary rest period, because the crew member who would have relieved him became ill and was incapacitated in the aircraft's cabin with an intestinal disorder. So the two-person crew flew the entire trip without a break.
Before descending toward Atlanta, where the winds were calm and visibility was good, the cockpit-voice recorder picked up sounds of yawns and crew-member references to lack of sleep. The captain told the first officer that for the impending approach, the "highest threat is fatigue," according to the report.
Based on the safety board's analysis, part of the crew's confusion stemmed from the fact that certain runway lights and navigational aids weren't operating that morning. When investigators conducted flights tests to precisely replicate conditions on the day of the incident, the report notes, pilots had trouble discerning the runway on which the Delta flight had been cleared to land. But the test pilots could easily identify lights associated with the taxiway, located 200 feet to the north.
Equipment in the airport tower, however, wasn't calibrated to identify such mistakes, so controllers never warned the crew of Flight 60 that the jet was lined up incorrectly. Four seconds prior to touchdown, according to the report, is when the cockpit recorder picked up the captain's first comment that the plane was about to land on a taxiway.
Delta previously said it planned to retrain the pilots and return them to flight status. FAA officials previously said they crew made an inadvertent mistake, adding that the agency was focused on fully understanding what happened and preventing a repeat of the same mistakes.
Write to Andy Pasztor
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