Ethical Dilemma of Overshooting Airports
Jason Miller
Oklahoma State University - Tulsa
AVED 3433-Aviation Ethics
December 1, 2012
Dr. Jerry McMahan
Ethical Dilemma of Overshooting Airports
On October 21, 2009 Pilot Timothy Cheney and Co-pilot Richard Cole of Northwest Airlines flight 188 had overshot Minneapolis International Airport by 150 miles, which carried 147 passengers because the pilots had been busy using their laptops. The pilots had only received a slap on the wrists from the FAA; however their punishment should have been a bit harsher because the lives of everyone on that flight were put at risk because of irresponsible pilots.
Ethical Dilemma of the Pilots
The Flight Control tower at Minneapolis International
…show more content…
The Northwest Airlines pilots who were grounded after overflying the Minneapolis airport by 150 miles are trying to get their licenses back. National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Ted Lopatkiewicz said Thursday that Captain Timothy Cheney of Gig Harbor, Washington, and First Officer Richard Cole of Salem, have filed appeals. The FAA revoked the licenses of the pilots last month. Cole and Cheney had 10 days to appeal to the three-member National Transportation Safety Board, the same agency that investigates air crashes and makes safety recommendations. If their appeal fails, they can apply for a new license after one year. The Federal Aviation Administration said the pilots had violated numerous regulations, including failing to comply with air traffic control instructions and clearances and operating carelessly and recklessly. But the pilots said they had been so engrossed in a complicated new crew-scheduling program on their laptops -- a cockpit violation of airline policy that could cost them their licenses -- that they lost track of time and place for more than an hour, until a flight attendant on an intercom got their attention. By then, the Airbus A320 with its 144 passengers and five crew members had cruised on autopilot past its Minneapolis destination and was over Wisconsin, at 37,000 feet. It turned out the plane 's radio was still tuned to a frequency used by Denver controllers, even though the aircraft had flown beyond
The NTSB concluded both pilots were suffering from sleep deprivation and fatigue and eventually led to make errors during
The nations air traffic controllers became organized in 1968. Like many Americans, they wanted 8 hour days, better pay, and 5 day weeks. However, unlike many unions in America, PATCO's industry was highly regulated and subject to frequent political scrutiny. In 1958, the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) was created in order to improve safety in the rapidly growing airline industry. This had become a growing concern as the airline industry took off. However, in 1963, there was a major collision in midair, which could have been prevented by air traffic controllers. Since 1961, no new air traffic controllers had been hired, even though the number of flights had been increasing rapidly. Also, controllers were being forced (under the threat of being fired) to work six days a week for upwards of 10 hours per day. Also, a lot of equipment was "archaic" and unable to handle this rapid increase in flights. Some of the equipment was dated to World War II and was literally falling apart. The FAA was under a lot of pressure to make the airways safe. This pressure was in turn placed onto the controllers. Needless to say, all of these conditions did not make controllers happy and
This crash is considered to be the second deadliest aviation accident at the time in the US.
In 1955, a flight from Denver to Portland was bombed killing all 39 passengers and the five crewmembers on board. The aircraft was a Douglas DC-6B and this time the bomber was identified to be Jack Graham who placed the bomb in his mother’s bag to collect on her life insurance. He was arrested and executed. Next come three mid-air collisions by United aircraft. The first one came on June 30, 1956 when a United’s DC-7 collided with a TWA Super Constellation over the Grand Canyon. All 128 on board both flights died and this then was the world’s deadliest commercial airline disaster. The next mid-air came in 1958 when another one of United’s DC-7s crashed into a United States Air Force F-100 fighter jet. The crashed landed in unpopulated desert terrain of Las Vegas, Nevada. The last of the mid-air collisions comes on December 6, 1960 when United’s DC-8, its first jet aircraft, hit another TWA Super Constellation over New York City. The crash killed 128 people on both aircraft and six people on the ground. These accidents led to a sweeping change in air traffic control in the United
On the morning of March 27, 2012, Captain Clayton Osbon showed up late for an in-flight brief (Avila, Hosford, & Ng, 2012), which was not normal for this well-respected professional. As a result, JetBlue flight 191 departed from JFK airport 33 minutes late, at 7:28 AM Eastern standard Time with 6 crewmembers and 131 passengers. As the plane was gaining altitude, Captain Osbon mentioned being evaluated to the copilot, Jason Dowd (Avila, Hosford, & Ng, 2012). This was the second violation of social and professional norms. Shortly after, Captain Osbon yelled at air-traffic control to be quiet, turned off the radios, dimmed monitors and told the copilot that “… We need to take a leap of faith…” (Avila, Hosford, & Ng, 2012). The copilot decided
On June 1st, 1999 American Airlines flight 1420 experienced a tragic accident that claimed many lives and made an impact on aviation worldwide. The event and it subsequent investigation shed
The 2012 crash of Convair N153JR is a text book example of how human error and the absence of crew resource management can result in the unnecessary loss of life. This accident involves a transport company named Fresh Air Inc. that transported cargo between the Caribbean islands using vintage 1953 Convair aircraft. The co-owner of the company, who was also the primary pilot, established and nurtured an environment of relaxed rules and desultory aviation operations. The primary pilot consistently flew the Convair aircraft outside its operational parameters by disabling key aircraft systems needed for safe operations. Additionally, the captain filled Fresh Air with incompetent personnel that could not maintain safe and airworthy operations. To further exacerbate an already dangerous situation, assigned Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspectors were derelict in their duties and performed only superficial inspections on the company. Numerous and serious violations were overlooked by the inspectors and this removed the last remaining barrier for accident prevention. The captain’s insouciant approach to flying and company operations coupled with inept FAA oversight directly led to the crash of Convair N153JR.
Administrators like Larry Mulloy that had been routinely writing waivers to cover problems. I would also blame Thiokol management for folding under presser and overruling its concerned engineers. Also, NASA management for pressuring its subcontractors and obsessing so much with the need to fly that they ignored safety.
United Airlines is facing a huge controversy. This past Sunday, flight 3411 headed from Chicago to Louisville was fully booked and boarded. Due to staff relocation, United decided to remove 4 passengers from the plane. One resisted - leading to a bloody encounter with airport security that has been widely circulated on social media. Outrage ensused. After pushback from his mild apology, CEO Oscar Munoz offered a full apology. Mr. Munoz stands to lose up to $500K of his $14.3M potential compensation due to poor customer satisfaction surveys.
The airplane took off northeast from Runway 4 at 3:25 pm, Skiles was the first to notice flock of birds approaching the aircraft while passing through an altitude of about 2,800 feet on the initial climb out to 15,000 feet. According to the flight data recorder (FDR) data, the bird encounter occurred at 3:27 PM when the passengers and cabin crew reported hearing “very loud bangs” from both engines and seeing flaming exhaust along with a strong odor of unburned fuel in the cabin (World). The airplane was at an altitude of 2,818 feet and a distance about 4.5 miles north-northwest of the approach end of runway 22 at LaGuardia Airport. Even though the airplane was struck by flock of birds, the airplane’s altitude continued to increase while the airspeed decreased until 3:27 PM, when the airplane reached its highest altitude of roughly 3,060 feet at roughly 185 knots (213 mph). The altitude then started to decrease as the airspeed started to increase reaching 215 knots at 3:28 PM at an altitude of about 1,650 feet. At this point, Sullenberger took over the controls while Skiles begins going through the emergency procedures checklist in an attempt to restart the engines. Sullenberger asked the departure controller if they could attempt an emergency landing in Teterboro Airport as a possibility and was quickly gained permission to do so but he made his intention clear to bring the plane
Fourteen years has passed since that fateful attack on the United States where multiple terrorist commandeered commercial aircrafts and crashed them into the World Trade Center buildings and the Pentagon. Mohammed Atta and his accomplices hijacked American Airlines Flight 11, crashing the aircraft into the North Tower whilst a few minutes later, their associate, Marwan al Shehhi and other accomplices crashed United Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower. Both of these individuals obtained and received their pilot’s licenses at Huffman Aviation in Florida by training on large jet flight simulators. A fellow terrorist, Ziad Jarrah, who crashed United Airlines Flight 93 before his intended target, believed to be The White House, also acquired his pilot training at Florida. However, Hani Hanjour, the terrorist who commandeered American Airlines Flight 77 and crashed into the Pentagon, obtained his licenses at Arizona
On February 24th, 1989 United Airlines 811 (UA811) took off from Honolulu International Airport, Hawaii (HNL) for a regularly scheduled 8 hour flight to Auckland, New Zealand. The routine flight aboard the Boeing 747-122 had left Los Angeles, California enroute to Sydney, Australia, but made a scheduled intermediate stop in Honolulu and would make one more in Auckland (NTSB, 1992, p. 1). UA811 departed Gate 10, at HNL, 3 minutes late with 3 flight crew, 15 flight attendants and 337 passengers onboard (NTSB, 1992, p. 1). The flight took place in the aftermath of Lockerby and additional boarding procedures were in place adding to an extended passenger boarding process. The second officer noted that all cabin and cargo door lights were out prior to departing the gate (NTSB, 1992, p. 2). The captain was at the controls for the takeoff from HNL runway 8R at 0152:49 HST (NTSB, 1992, p. 2). “The flightcrew reported the airplane’s operation to be normal during the take off and during the initial and intermediate segments of the climb” (NTSB, 1992, p. 2). Due to thunderstorms enroute the flightcrew elected to deviate left of course and the captain left the passenger seat belt sign “on”. When climbing between 22,000 feet and 23,000 feet at 300 knots the flightcrew
There is no doubt that Captain Chesley Sullenberger, “Sully”, is a hero for saving all 155 souls on board the doomed US Airways Flight 1549. The plane took off from runway 04 in a northerly heading. It was only eight and a half miles into its route from LaGuardia Airport in New York City to Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina when the plane encountered a flock of geese flying southwest that blew out both engines (geese are rather common to the New York area in this time of year). Just before the birds struck the plane, Sully yelled into the black box, “birds!” At least five birds collided into the plane and at 2,500 feet a minimum of three geese caused a fire in both engines and
In response to the incident, various representatives from the airline expressed contradictory reasoning as of the why hundreds of flies were canceled and/or affected by such incident. Willie D. Jones from IEEE spectrum suggests that Delta’s computer system failure is a part of a pattern. He expressed such opinion departing on that major other
Both the FAA and Southwest testified. FAA officials were blamed for being “too close” to the airline and being careless in their regulatory duties. Safety was not compromised by the missed inspections; a tiny section of the plane’s skin had missed being inspected. The cracks in that section would not have led to any terrible accident. The