Best Emergency Response

[Xyn_Air]

I have to admit that thinking about air disasters is strangely interesting in its own way.  Perhaps it is because we know that when we fly, perhaps especially when we fly in large airliners, we are pitting our knowledge against both the physics of our universe and even death itselfshould something go wrong.  I must even admit to spending some days wrapped up in watching several episodes of "Seconds to Disaster" or reading reports of aviation accident incidents.  Maybe in exploring and thinking about why such tragic disasters happen, we feel we are gaining some control over them.  Knowledge makes us feel safer than ignorance when thinking about disasters and our own mortality.

That being said, the 'worst air disaster' thread left me feeling a bit depressed.  So, I thought that perhaps we could also have a thread about best responses in regards to aviation emergencies.  What stories do you know of where no one should have survived, but the skill of pilots, safety crews, or other individuals saved both the day and as many lives as possible?

Personally, the story that comes to mind for me is that of United Airlines Flight 232 on July 19, 1989.  The DC-10 had lost use of all control surfaces due to damage to its hydraulics lines (lines were severed and all hydraulic fluid drained from the system).  However, using only thrust to control the aircraft, the captain and a dead-heading flight instructor for DC-10's (who just so happened to have studied flying aircraft without control of the flight surfaces following the crash of JAL 123) managed to bring the plane back to the airport at Sioux City, Iowa (they used Sioux Gateway Airport; ICAO: KSUX) for an attempt at landing.  At the last second before landing, the right wing dipped and contact the ground causing the plane to impact the ground at an angle instead of straight on with the landing gear.  This caused the plane to roll and break up on impact.  However, until that last moment, the flight crew had done an excellent job of bringing the crippled aircraft in for a landing, and because of their skill and tenacity, the crash landing was not as bad as it could have been.  175 of the 185 of the passengers and 10 of the 11 crew survived.

Though it is terribly tragic that 111 people died in that accident, I find this story to also be incredibly inspiring.  The accident could have been much worse had it not been for the response of the flight crew.  That is why I think of this incident when I think of best emergency responses in aviation.

[beaky]

That particular accident is the only one I can think of off the top of my head where a crash was almost certain and the crew successfully minimized the damage, but there have been a few that came close :

The recent Jet Blue A320 landing with the nosewheel not aligned properly... some good emergency piloting there.

The "Gimli Glider" incident, where a captain who was also a soaring enthusiast managed to land a 767 on an abandoned runway when it ran out of fuel

The AirTransat  A330 that was landed in the Azores when an undetected fuel leak left it sucking fumes over the Atlantic

The Hapag-Lloyd  A 310 that was landed just short of the runway in Vienna after running dry (gear did not retract fully and crew decided to continue, even though consumption rate was much higher due to the extra drag)

The Frontier DC-3 that lost most of one wing striking a mountaintop in bad weather, but was landed safely in Phoenix.

The infamous JAL 747 crash, where all hydraulics were lost, sort of fits, I think, because if the crew had not understood how to at least try to maintain control (with differential thrust) and come up with a plan, it's likely that the one survivor from that crash would have also died (it's also believed that there may have been others who survived initially, but died awaiting assistance).
 There was very little that crew could do, but they did it, even though the odds were slim. Had the terrain been flatter, they might have bellied in, with more success, but a mountain got in the way. A shame, but at least they saved one person. Better than none.

The common thread in all these scenarios is: don't give up- just keep flying, if you can.


And: these are only airliners... military aviation history is full of many more harrowing stories, as you might imagine.

[C]

The recent Jet Blue A320 landing with the nosewheel not aligned properly... some good emergency piloting there.

That reminds me of the Virgin Atlantic A340 that landed with one of the mainwheel bogies partially extended in 1997. Thankfully, the passengers were lucky in that their pilot just happened to be the 1997 British Aerobatic Champion!



[quote]Year 1997 - The Diploma for Outstanding Airmanship

Virgin Atlantic A340 Captain and 1997 British Aerobatic Champion Tim Barnby

[bok269]

Or the near collisiong of US1170 and E132 at BOS in 2005.  THanks to quick, almost instantaneous thinking by the F/O, hundreds of lives were saved.

[Xyn_Air]

I just learned of another incident today that I had not known about before.  China Airlines Flight 006, a Boeing 747 flying from Taipei to Los Angeles on February 19, 1985, had a malfunction in the number four engine which resulted in that engine flaming out.  The pilot tried to correct for the thrust imbalance using the autopilot, but as the autopilot was not designed to make use of the rudder, it could not correct for the thrust imbalance with just the ailerons and spoilers.  When the pilot finally took the aircraft off autopilot, the 747 banked hard right and went into a stall, eventually inverting and going nose down.

As it fell into a dive, China Airlines Flight 006 went into heavy clouds, and due to several instrument malfunctions and a lack of visual reference, the crew was unable to determine how best to correct their flight path.  Eventually, at 11,000 feet, the 747 emerged from the cloud layer and by 9,500 feet the crew was able to regain control.  However, in the 6km+ dive, the landing gear doors had been ripped off and the elevators disabled.  China Airlines Flight 006 diverted to KSFO where the pilot had to control descent using only the thrust.

Even though initial improper use of the autopilot caused the aircraft to lose control, the subsequent actions of the pilot and flight crew in regaining control of the crippled aircraft and bringing it in for a safe landing, thus saving everyone on board, was truly skilled flying.  I would only rate this emergency response slightly below United 232 because of the sole fact that the pilot contributed to the emergency in the case of China 006 (not to say that he didn't display remarkable skill and resolve in resolving the crisis).

If you want to see a quick clip about this incident, go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeznpFQHbSk

[Ivan]

As it fell into a dive, China Airlines Flight 006 went into heavy clouds, and due to several instrument malfunctions and a lack of visual reference, the crew was unable to determine how best to correct their flight path.  Eventually, at 11,000 feet, the 747 emerged from the cloud layer and by 9,500 feet the crew was able to regain control.  However, in the 6km+ dive, the landing gear doors had been ripped off and the elevators disabled.  China Airlines Flight 006 diverted to KSFO where the pilot had to control descent using only the thrust.

Only time an in-service 747 went through the sound barrier

[Craig.]

I would add the, fed-ex dc10 that was almost hi-jacked by a disgruntled employee, the three pilots onboard fighting not only this guy but massive injuries including one with a huge part of his skull smashed, a captain who could barely see yet managed to fly it in, not only overweight but also having to do several sharp and fast turns. Include the fact that the dc10 also did several aerobatic manuvers aswell and all in all it was an incredible job done.

[Xyn_Air]

I would add the, fed-ex dc10 that was almost hi-jacked by a disgruntled employee, the three pilots onboard fighting not only this guy but massive injuries including one with a huge part of his skull smashed, a captain who could barely see yet managed to fly it in, not only overweight but also having to do several sharp and fast turns. Include the fact that the dc10 also did several aerobatic manuvers aswell and all in all it was an incredible job done.

Yes, that was also an impressive response to an emergency situation.  Also impressive is that they held off killing the hijacker.  Though the captain contemplated the necessity of doing so if the hijacker could not be restrained, in the end the flight crew restrained him and he was able to be taken into custody.  I am not sure I would have the same self-control after someone beat me in the head with a hammer and then pointed a spear gun at me.

This incident also provides us with some interesting technical data: you can roll some passenger-capable airliners (this DC 10-30 had been converted for cargo use, but in essence was a plane originally designed to be a passenger liner) without significant harm to the physical integrity of the aircraft.  My friends and I have always wondered about certain aspects of Flight Simulator's ability to accurately reproduce real flight dynamics.  I mean, when you take a 777 through a barrel roll, the eyebrows go up and you begin to think, "Wow, this isn't very real at all."  And yet, FedEx 705 shows us that because of the over-engineering that goes into these aircraft, in some situations that can exhibit flight dynamics that one would not expect out of an aircraft that large.

As someone mentioned earlier, the big lesson we can learn here is don't give up, keep flying!  Sometimes skill and technology can come together in wonderful ways to avert what otherwise appears to be a disaster.

[bok269]

It is pretty incredible what airliners will take under extreme conditions.  Although I guess we knew that from the get go. Tex Johnston rolled the Dash 80 before the 707 entered service.

[Xyn_Air]

I am pleased to find that when I think of it, I can remember quite a few incidents of great responses to emergency situations.  On top of that, the internet has been a great resource for finding the details about all these incidents and more.  Of these two, I had only known of one incident of all four engines flaming out on a 747 due to volcanic ash.  That incident involved British Airways flight 9, and is sometimes referred to as the Jakarta Incident.  While looking up information regarding that flight, I also learned of KLM flight 867.  KLM 867 experienced the exact same problem - flame out of all four engines due to volcanic ash - over Alaska.

The similarities of both incidents are eerily similar.In both instances, volcanic ash from nearby erupting volcanoes were ingested into the engines and 'sand blasted' the leading surfaces of the aircraft.  So much particulate matter choked the engines of these 747's, that they had a flame out of all four of their respective engines.  In both cases, the 747 crews had to make multiple attempts to restart the engines while in a gliding descent towards mountains.  And, finally, in both cases, landing was made more difficult by the fact that the forward windshields had been blasted into opaqueness, leaving only portions of the side windshields available for visual reference.

Again, skill and solid engineering came together, this time to save two flights in emergency situations.  As for best emergency response, I like the following announcement made over the intercom to passengers by Captain Eric Moody as captured by flight data voice recorders:

"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."

[Ivan]

Dont forget the one with the Saha 707...
3 people died because they jumped out before the emergency services arrived (as the slides werent working) and drowned in a river. Of course there were the usual broken bones and legs

[Xyn_Air]

Dont forget the one with the Saha 707...
3 people died because they jumped out before the emergency services arrived (as the slides werent working) and drowned in a river. Of course there were the usual broken bones and legs

OK . . . um . . . but, what about this incident makes it a 'Best Emergency Response'?  I am not trying to be nit-picky or step on toes, but that is the idea for this thread as stated in the OP.  I looked up the incident, and it seems to be an example of a series of mistakes that led to the tragic loss of three lives.  Was there some other part to the story you could tell us about?

[Theis]

What about the Air France A340 crash in Canada?
As far as I know, noone died in the crash, despite the aircraft were on fire!

[Nexus]

[quote]I have to admit that thinking about air disasters is strangely interesting in its own way.

[Nexus]

What about the Air France A340 crash in Canada?
As far as I know, noone died in the crash, despite the aircraft were on fire!

I still maintain the opinion that they shouldn't have landed in the first place.  :)