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Holy shit.
I notice that the flight instructor disobeys the captain, who says to says to remove power from the engines, and does the opposite right as they're touching down. Was there ever any thought as to whether that contributed to the loss of life?
I wasn't able to find any speculation if Fitch could have acted differently and had a better outcome in the official report[1]. The report states that the "captain's acceptance of the check airman to assist in the cockpit was positive and appropriate".
Regarding disobeying the captain we can see from transcripts from the CVR that the captain (probably) knew what Fitch was doing:
Records: "Close 'em off."
Haynes: "Left turn."
Records: "Pull 'em off"
Fitch: "Nah, I can't pull 'em off or we'll lose it, that's what's turning ya."
Unidentified: "Okay."
Fitch: "Back ya’ll!"
Haynes: "Left, Left throttle, left, left, left, left, left, left, left, left, left, left, left!"
Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS): "Whoop whoop pull up. Whoop whoop pull up. Whoop whoop pull up."
Haynes: "Everybody stay in brace!"
GPWS: "Whoop whoop pull up."
Haynes: "God!"
[Sound of impact, end of recording]
[1] https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/... (Discussion of the performance of the flight crew from page 75 [81] onwards)
I notice that the flight instructor disobeys the captain, who says to says to remove power from the engines, and does the opposite right as they're touching down. Was there ever any thought as to whether that contributed to the loss of life?
It goes into detail about the causes of the crash, the stories of the passengers before and after the crash.
I notice that the flight instructor disobeys the captain, who says to says to remove power from the engines, and does the opposite right as they're touching down. Was there ever any thought as to whether that contributed to the loss of life?
Ultimately it is impossible to say what kind of effect it would have had, though I’m inclined to say it would likely have been better if the thrust was applied equally.
This is one of those classic aviation tales I'm never not going to re-read when they pop up, right there with the Gimli Glider [1] and the various SR-71 stories. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. I trust you are not in too much distress”
And for absurdity the one where the pilot was sucked out of the window and the cabin crew had to hold on to him
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-UM-YcwWBc
A similar incident took place in 2003 on a DHL cargo plane after being hit by a surface-to-air missile. Miraculously they did manage to land the plane intact despite the total loss of hydraulics and needing to rely on engine thrust alone to control the plane.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Baghdad_DHL_attempted_sho...
The Mayday episode might also mention (least from my memory of last watching it) an experimental NASA program developed sometime after this crash that would allow "full airplane control" via computer in the event one more more control surfaces could not be used. It achieved this by translating normal flight inputs into sophisticated throttle manipulation of the engines, just like the pilots on flight 232 did, but with the reflexes and modeling of a computer.
I notice that the flight instructor disobeys the captain, who says to says to remove power from the engines, and does the opposite right as they're touching down. Was there ever any thought as to whether that contributed to the loss of life?
Presumably using only one engine would have prevented the plane from flipping like it did, but it might have smashed into the ground harder or turned into a fireball. Ultimately it is impossible to say what kind of effect it would have had, though I’m inclined to say it would likely have been better if the thrust was applied equally.
If you remember the Korean airlines flight that crashed at SFO a few years back, the spool up time for the engines came into play as well. The pilots noticed the issue with too little time for the engines to deliver more power before the plane crashed.