Case Analysis : ' Asiana Flight 214 '

had survived.” This second quote explains the solution to the plane’s crash, which required the

One of the most controversial and important air crash linked to human error of the modern world happened on the night of February 12, 2009. Colgan air flight 3407, operated by Continental Connection, was on final approach to runway 23 at Buffalo-Niagara International Airport as it disappeared from radar. The aircraft was a Bombardier Dash 8, a popular twin engine medium range turboprop Airliner used by many regional carriers. The aircraft entered an uncontrollable stall crashing into to a neighborhood 5 miles northeast of the airport killing all everyone on souls on board. The Captain, Marvin Resnlow and first officer Rebecca Lynne were behind the controls the night of the accident. The NTSB report determined error by both pilots cause the aircraft to crash. Thus, pilot fatigues, improper recovery form a stall were contributing factors. The victim’s family members pushed for congress to overhaul airline regulations. The NTBS investigation delivery multiple findings that eventually led to a modernization of airline operations and pilot training.

The plane then reportedly filled with thick smoke with flames shooting from the rear of the plane. The passengers struggled to get though either the emergency exits or through holes in fuselage that were torn open due to the crash. The rescue effort was also slowed due to power outages on the field. The bay doors for the rescue vehicles needed to be open manually slowing the rescue crews from getting to the plane. Overall a total of 11 people died including Captain Richard W. Bushmann, a 20-year veteran with American Airlines. 83 of the 143 passengers were injured.

Contributing to the cause of the accident was the Cherokee pilot’s interrupted radio transmission, which led to the Beech 1900C pilots’ misunderstanding of the transmission as an indication from the King Air that it would not take off until after flight 5925 had cleared the runway. Contributing to the severity of the accident and the loss of life was the

Most people think that the plane must have ran out of gas and that they crashed near Howland Island. This is biased.

The cockpit crew grew tense as the 767 nosed down plane skidded to a stop just before hitting a telephone pole and a fence. The giant aircraft

Pennsylvania, where the plane “crashed”, say they heard a missile go off. A resident near the crash served in Vietnam and he said knew that was the sound of a missile he heard, so it is likely the plane could have got shot down (What Really Happened).

There are many aircraft accident factors in which investigators need to pursue in order to come to a good conclusion on what the cause or causes of an aircraft accident were. A portion of what the investigator looks into is the human factors surrounding the accident. This highly diverse and expansive area needs to be systematically looked into to figure out if any human factors were causation of an aircraft accident. One model that investigators utilize in order to sift through the human factors that may be attributable to an accident is the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) Model. This Model breaks down human factors into four different sections, organizational influences, unsafe supervision, preconditions for unsafe acts, and unsafe acts of operators. Throughout this case study, the accident of American Airlines flight 1420 will be dissected utilizing the HFACS Model to uncover human factors issues with the aircraft operator organization, aircraft flight crew, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

NTSB ruled that the main causes of the accident were the decision to land in a thunderstorm and that the crew did not arm the spoilers (NTSB, 2001).

8:44 am: Flight attendant Amy Sweeney, from Flight 11, reports by telephone to Michael Woodward at the American Airlines Flight Services Office in Dallas, "Something is wrong. We are in a rapid descent... we are all over the place." A minute later, Woodward tells her to describe what she sees out the window and she responds, "I see the water. I see the buildings. I see buildings..." and after a short pause, she says, "We are flying low. We are flying very, very low. We are flying way too low." A few seconds later she says, "Oh my God, we are way too low.”

|the cockpit, had failed. Lancaster, the captain, was pulled out of his seat by the air and forced head first out of the cockpit. This |

accident started the problems faced by the crew members. They then changed their course and

At this point, there was enough oxygen in the second system to get the astronauts home safely, but Lovell, one of the astronauts, noticed that the psi (pounds per square inch) level on the pressure gauge for the second system was falling as well. It should normally register at 860, now it was only a 300, only 53 minutes after the initial explosion. At this pace, the spacecraft would expend all of its oxygen and electricity between midnight and 3 AM. This was not giving the Control Center a lot of time.

At dusk, the pilot and passengers load the aircraft and departed the airport. The flight departed under visual flight rules and visual meteorological conditions. The weather was reported at

During a low activity phase of the flight, the Pilot left the co-pilot alone in the cockpit, which is allowable in Europe. The young German copilot, Andreas Lubitz, apparently locked the cockpit door, preventing the Pilot or anyone else from entering. He then set the autopilot system to descend rapidly, dooming the plane to crash into the rugged French Alps at more than 400 MPH. No survivors have been found, and investigators are now uncovering information about Lubitz that indicates he hid some health issues and also had previous treatment for depression which was known to Lufthansa officials. It is also surprising that there were not more systems on the aircraft that would prevent or slow the rapid descent that Lubitz had dialed in - controls that would monitor or alert officials to the questionnable actions of privileged insiders.