Flight 587 Case Analysis

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Flight 587 Case Analysis

Summary

The day of November 12, 2001, will remain engraved in many Americans’ memory

following the tragic plane crash of flight 587 shortly after takeoff from JFK airport heading to

Santo Domingo. The accident claimed 265 souls among them being 251 passengers, nine crew

members and five on the ground at Queens’ neighborhood, New York (Griffioen, 2009). Since it

was just two months after the 9/11 attack, many feared it might be another act of terrorism.

However, the investigation by the NTSM ruled out such claims. They unraveled the real cause of

the plane crash to be due to pilot error. This paper presents a case analysis of pilot error that

resulted in the crush of the American Airline flight 587.

Case Analysis

The flight 587, an Airbus A300B4-400R was a modern and a very stable airplane, but

still, it crashed. Several occurrences transpired to the fatal tragedy. Firstly, the effects of wake

vortex from Japan Boeing aircraft that took off few minutes before its departure. The wake of an

aircraft creates a region of spinning air that causes turbulence to the plane nearly behind it

(Goman et al., 2008). The wake vortex from the aircraft in front created turbulence to the flight

587 making it to yaw.

Another occurrence is that Sten Molin, a third officer, was the piloting while Ed States, a

chief pilot, took a monitoring position. The drastic copilot action to try to bring the plane to

control by aggressively applying the rudder is another occurrence. In fact, the FDR data revealed

that he used the rudder aggressively, inputting five times, after which the CRV recorded a loud

bang as the tail fin snapped (Griffioen, 2009). The rudder is a limited maneuvering control

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element for the airplane and set an angle to the tail fin to bring it balance (Goman et al., 2008).

The pilot actions exposed the vertical stabilizer to large aerodynamic forces that lead to its

separation from the fuselage. This theory explains why the vertical stabilizer was found at

Jamaica Bay, 1.2 km from the main scene. NASA team ruled out the idea of faulty material after

a thorough analysis of the vertical stabilizer and indicated that it snapped due to large forces

beyond its design capacity (Griffioen, 2009).

Additionally, the training program that the pilots at American Airlines received was also

to blame since it directed them to apply the rudder aggressively amid turbulence. Also, the

sensitivity of the rudder system control use was also not covered by training programs. Computer

simulation made of an airplane in the wake revealed that only 10 cm on the ground and 4cm in a

high-speed rudder movement was sufficient (Griffioen, 2009). Therefore, the aggressive use of

the rudder at a speed of 250 knots resulted in snapping of the tail fin and aftermath the horrible

plane crash.

Recommendations

In retrospect, the circumstances that led to the crash of flight 587 was avoidable, and it is

due to lack of proper training and human error. To that effect, I advocate several

recommendations to prevent any future reoccurrence of such tragic incident. First, occasional

refreshment training to all the pilots to help cope up with highly advancing technology in

aviation and models of the airplane. Secondly, revising the training program for the pilots to

make sure it includes all the required scope and scrub off misleading information. Hence, it

should add the certification of building material and rudder system sensitivity. Finally, increase

the number of flights the copilot ought to go before being allowed to pilot. Therefore,

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implementation of these recommendations will ensure the pilot has all the essential information,

and hence pilot errors are minimal.

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References

Goman, M. G., Khramtsovsky, A. V., & Kolesnikov, E. N. (2008). Evaluation of aircraft

performance and maneuverability by computation of attainable equilibrium sets. Journal

of guidance, control, and dynamics, 31(2), 329-339.

Griffioen, H. (2009). Air crash investigations: The Crash of American Airlines Flight 587.

Russian Federation: Mabuhay Publ.

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