This is episode 24 and comes courtesy of a suggestion by one of my listeners called Russell – surname withheld as he’s an operating commercial pilot. 

Don’t want to upset the corporation you know. 

First of all, a big thank you to Russell for the research documents and information provided. This has helped a great deal preparing for this episode.

We’re looking at Terrain Awareness Warning Systems or TAWS and Ground Proximity Warnings Systems, GPWS – now with the added advantage of an E – Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning Systems. 

In 2006 the International Civil Aviation Organisation published a report which included this line 

“EGPWS / TAWS technology has entered airline and corporate operations during the last five years; to date no aircraft fitted with such a system has been involved in a CFIT accident. These systems are now mandated for all turbine engine aircraft of six or more seats.”

That gives you some idea of how important these two bits of technology have been to aviators. Unfortunately there have been a few CFIT accidents despite this technology since then as you’ll hear later, but the point is safety overall has improved. 

So let’s go over a few examples which Russell has provided and some which ICAO analysed. As usual folks, this series is about how aviation safety improvements after accidents have led inexorably to flying being one of the safest ways to head from A to B and even C, D and E.

Throughout the history of aviation, Controlled Flight into Terrain or CFIT has been a major cause of fatal accidents, particularly at night, poor visibility or when the crew become fixated by technical issues and forget to fly.
One of the accidents that drove engineer Don Bateman to seek a solution was the Alaskan Airlines Flight 1866 accident of 1971. The other was American Airlines Flight 965 – a Boeing 757-223 from Miami International Airport to Cali in Columbia that crashed in mountains outside its destination in December 1995.

Plane Crash Diaries

Episode 24 - Alaskan Flight 1866, American Airlines Flight 965 and Don Bateman’s brilliant EGPWS

This is episode 30 and I am delighted to have special guest Jim Spaeth join us for this episode to talk about his experiences at TWA.
His life intersected with a number of accidents and he had a unique view of events he’s going to describe working as a salesman, ticketing agent and senior manager at TWA. He’s written a book called Up, Up and Astray, Memoir of an airline bachelor during the golden age of Air Travel.
Jim is a great story teller, and his eye for detail captures the background to some of the accidents I’ve already covered, particularly in the 1960s and 70s. 
We start with Jim arriving in Kansas City in 1964 where he has just found out he’d got his schedule wrong in his attempt at joining the police force and he’s wondering what to do next. Little did he know what aviation had in store for him.

Episode 30 - Up up & Astray with Jim Spaeth: TWA behind the scenes shenanigans

We’re focusing on Air Canada Flight 797 that developed and in-flight fire that turned into a conflagration after it landed and the doors were opened. 
23 passengers burned to death of were asphyxiated in that terrible incident. 
The response to this was crucial to global aviation safety as it led to rules such as airline manufacturers having to ensure that planes could be evacuated inside 90 seconds, visible lights on the floor, smoke detectors on all flights, firefighting training for crew and the briefing passengers sitting in exit rows.
Air Canada Flight 797 was an international passenger flight operating from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to Montréal–Dorval International Airport, with one stop at Toronto Pearson International Airport. 
It took off from Dallas Forth Worth international Airport at 16h25 local time on 2 June 1983, the plane was a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32, registration C-FTLU. 
There was a single scheduled stop at Toronto International Airport, en route to  Montreal's Dorval Airport.  
51 year-old Donald Cameron was the Captain in charge, and had 13 000 hours flight time, 4 4939 in the DC-9 and had been flying with Air Canada since March 1966. 
First Officer Claude Ouimet was 34 and had flown for Air Canada since November 1973. He had 5,650 hours of flight time, including 2,499 hours in the DC-9, and had qualified as a DC-9 first officer in February 1979.

Episode 31 - The 1983 Air Canada Flight 797 toilet fire that changed global aviation

A listener asked me to take a closer look at the crash of a Lear jet in 1999 that was carrying golfer Payne Stewart so here we are. 

Of all the crashes we’ve looked at this has to be one of the more frustrating and needs quite a bit of sleuthing. The main reason is the NTSB still has not published a final report and probably never will. 

The basic facts are not in dispute – it was a case of a plane decompression at high altitude. But how it happened is another matter. 

So let’s try and dig deep and discover what led to the death of one of the best known sportsmen in the United States.

The basic story goes like this. 

On October 25, 1999 a Learjet 35 registration N47BA, operated by Sunjet Aviation based in Sanford, Florida departed Orlando, Florida, for Dallas, Texas, at around 0920 eastern daylight time (EDT).  Radio contact with the flight was lost north of Gainesville, after air traffic control (ATC) cleared the airplane to flight level (FL) 390. 

The learjet was then intercepted by several U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard aircraft as it headed in a north west direction. The military pilots flew close enough to see that the windshields of the Learjet were frosted or covered with condensation.

Later the airplane engines began spooling down, controlled flight was not possible,  and the learjet stalled and spiralled to the ground, impacting an open field between the towns of Mila and Aberdeen in South Dakota just before 12h15 central daylight time on October 25th 1999.

The NTSB scrutinised the maintenance logs and found a snag reported in February 1998 that the cabin occasionally would not hold pressure at low altitudes. Maintenance checked this on the ground but could not replicate the problem, so it wasn’t fixed. 

IN May 1999 Sunjet maintenance personnel were checked out as part of the Phase A1-6 inspection, which included pressurization system checks. All seemed fine once more. 

But it wasn’t. 

A Sunjet Aviation pilot reported to Safety Board investigators that a month later, July 22, 1999 during a flight in the very same Learjet, the pressurization system would not maintain a full pressure differential and that later the cabin altitude “started climbing well past 2,000 feet per minute” he said. 

When confronted by the NTSB, the Sunjet Aviation Chief pilot denied this, saying that he hadn’t noticed any differential. 

However, a July 23, 1999, Work Order discrepancy sheet 5895 noted the following: “Discrepancy: Pressurization check and operation of system.”

Episode 32 –  Payne Stewart’s Learjet decompression death and missing maintenance logs

We’re going to look at a few examples of trigger happy pilots and missile operators, starting with the 5th April 1948 Gatow Air Disaster over Berlin as the Cold War ramped up after the Second World War. 
 
A British European Airways  Vickers VC.1B Viking airliner crashed near RAF Gatow air base, after a Soviet Air Force Yakovlev Yak-3 fighter aircraft flew into it from below. 
 
All ten passengers and four crew on board the Viking were killed, as was the Soviet pilot. This incident is a warning to aviators in the contemporary world, witness the tension between Chinese and Taiwan, North and South Korea, near-misses above the Baltic, and less reported but as dangerous, incidents across the middle East. 
 
First, 1948.
 
The Gatow Air Disaster was a mid-air collision that sparked an international incident between the USA, Britain and Russia – leading to heightened tensions and which escalated into what we know as the Berlin Blockade. That was a rather clumsy attempt by Joseph Stalin to force Europe to back down about the Marshall plan.

So let’s take a look at some other examples of the military behaving badly. 
 
On July 27, 1955, an El Al flight from Vienna Austria to Tel Aviv Israel blundered into Bulgarian airspace and was shot down by two MiG fighters. 
 
All 58 people on board were killed. After initially denying involvement, Bulgaria admitted to having downed the aircraft. Despite occurring during a low point in relations between the Soviet bloc and the US and its allies, international fallout was minimal.
Moving east, on July 23, 1954, mainland China's People's Liberation Army fighters shot down a Cathay Pacific Airways CA 54 Skymaster. 
 
The plane was flying from Bangkok to Hong Kong when it was hit - 10 out of the 19 passengers and crew died. In apologizing for the attack to Britain days later, the Chinese government claimed they had thought the plane was a military aircraft from Taiwan which they presumed was on an  attack mission against Hainan Island.
 
Trouble spots include the Qatar and its neighbours, Turkey, North Korea, parts of East Africa, Yemen, China and Taiwan. That's quite a list.

Episode 33 - The 1948 Gatow Air Disaster and other military blunders

The British government was focused on making dirigibles the transport of choice in the 1930s - competing with the Germans to produce the largest, most luxurious and most convenient way to travel across its empire. In the summer of 1930 two variants were created, one designed by a government team known ironically as "the socialist" airship as it was a labour government, the other "the capitalist" because it was the brainchild of the Vickers company. 
But there were issues - It was already known that both the R100 and R101 were lacking in the enough lift originally planned at the outset of the Imperial Airship Scheme in 1925. So the engineers decided to stretch the airship and plonk in another airbag.
This was to lead to a critical failure and the R101 crash in France as you'll hear.

Episode 34 - The British Airship accident that was deadlier than The Hindenburg

Episode 35 -  The 1986 Aeromexico collision over L.A. that changed aviation

This is episode 36 and its icy cold out there - it’s time to check out the incidents involving icing - starting with a short list and general description of the causes, then focusing on the two Aeroflot Atonovs accidents in 1971 and a design fault in the ATR-72. 

There’s an unfortunately long list of commercial airliners lost due to icing, more than 540 accidents and events caused by aircraft icing by the late 1980s in the United States alone and most of these were fatal. 

Anti-icing and de-icing research can be traced back to the early 1930s and in 1948, two scientists, AG Preston and Calvin Blackman conducted the first successful iced flight experiment in which the drag coefficient increased by 81% when the wing was covered and the pilot reported the plane was almost beyond control. I’m not sure of what aircraft they used but the results were extraordinary. 

Other research by NASA on the DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft measured various conditions and ice shapes and their effect on aircraft thrust, landing flaps, and angle of attack.

It’s thought that the first recorded case of a commercial airplane accident caused by icing occurred on December 15, 1920 when a de Havilland DH.4 mail plane operated by the United States Post Office Department crashed near Belleville, Pennsylvania, in the USA due to ice accumulation on the wings and control surfaces.There was a happier end to another on 19th December 1946 where a Railway Air Service Douglas Dakota 3 stalled on take-off 1 km north-east of Northolt Airport in London.

This was the case of the scheduled service to Glasgow Airport from London. Four crew and one passenger were on board ..  Yes, you heard correctly, one passenger.So to matters more terminal if you excuse the extremely cheesy aviation pun. 

That be the highly unusual twin crashes of the Antonovs in 1971 both caused by ice accretion. ot Antonov An-12s crashed on approach to Surgut International Airport, just nine days apart. The crashes occurred under near-identical circumstances due to the aircraft type’s lack of preparedness for flying in severe icing conditions.
It’s the formation of an ice ridge by water droplets beyond the ice protection system and one side anti-icing system that is likely to cause rolling and overturn according to research documents.

A case in point of the ridge cause was an ATR-72 crash in 1994. At that time, the airplane was at a severe level of icing condition, and the co-effect of the electric heating de-icing system at the wing leading edge and the natural conditions formed an ice ridge on the second half of the wing, resulting in a negative pressure zone on the one side's aileron.

Episode 36 - The 1971 Aeroflot Antonov twin crashes and the ATR-72’s achilles boot

This is episode 37 and we’re dealing with bird strikes. The most famous of these was US Airways flight 1549 from New York City's LaGuardia Airport to Charlotte.

Pilot Sully Sullenberger and first officer Jeffrey Skiles ditched the Airbus A320 in the Hudson River off Midtown Manhattan after a bird strike led to both engines failing - All 155 on board were rescued. 

This was known as the Miracle on the Hudson — but this episode is not going to focus on that miracle. What we’re going to do is cover some of the history of bird strikes and how there’s been a consistent attempt to deal with this challenge.

Bird Strikes on aircraft go back to the earliest recorded heavy than air flights, as noted by Orville Wright in his diary in 1905 after a day on board the Wright Flyer over a cornfield in Ohio —

" flew 4,751 meters in 4 minutes 45 seconds, four complete circles. Twice passed over the fence into Beard's cornfield. Chased flock of birds for two rounds and killed one which fell on top of the upper surface and after a time fell off when swinging a sharp curve.”

Interesting to see that the earliest aviators were chasing birds instead of trying to avoid them, not a bird strike so much as a strike on the bird.
The greatest loss of life directly linked to a bird strike took place on October 4, 1960, when an Eastern Air Lines Flight 375, Lockheed L-188 Electra, flying from Boston hit a flock of starlings during take-off, damaging all four engines. 

The aircraft crashed into Boston harbour killing 62 out of 72 passengers. This focused authorities on the dangers of bird strikes. This crash wasn’t only about avians, but poor maintenance because a pilots seat that slid backwards was cited as part of the litany of events that caused the plane to stall.Another bird-strike incident that was critical in the development of improved standards was the United Air Lines Flight 297 crash.
It was a scheduled flight from Newark International Airport to Atlanta which plunged to the ground 10 miles southwest of Baltimore on November 23, 1962, killing all 17 people on board. 

An investigation concluded that the Vickers Viscount 745D turboprop airliner had struck at least two whistling swans, which caused severe damage to the plane, resulting in a loss of control.Most accidents occur when a bird collides with the windscreen or is sucked into the engine of jet aircraft, annual damage estimated to be $400 million within the United States alone and up to $1.2 billion to commercial aircraft worldwide.

Episode 37 - Sharing the skies:  A short history of bird strikes and improved safety

This is episode 37 and we’re dealing with bird strikes. The most famous of these was US Airways flight 1549 from New York City's LaGuardia Airport to Charlotte.

Pilot Sully Sullenberger and first officer Jeffrey Skiles ditched the Airbus A320 in the Hudson River off Midtown Manhattan after a bird strike led to both engines failing - All 155 on board were rescued. 

This was known as the Miracle on the Hudson — but this episode is not going to focus on that miracle. What we’re going to do is cover some of the history of bird strikes and how there’s been a consistent attempt to deal with this challenge.

Bird Strikes on aircraft go back to the earliest recorded heavy than air flights, as noted by Orville Wright in his diary in 1905 after a day on board the Wright Flyer over a cornfield in Ohio —

" flew 4,751 meters in 4 minutes 45 seconds, four complete circles. Twice passed over the fence into Beard's cornfield. Chased flock of birds for two rounds and killed one which fell on top of the upper surface and after a time fell off when swinging a sharp curve.”

Interesting to see that the earliest aviators were chasing birds instead of trying to avoid them, not a bird strike so much as a strike on the bird. 

In 1911 French Pilot Eugene Gilbert was flying his open-cockpit Bleriot XI in the Paris to Madrid Air Race over the Pyrenees when he was attacked by an angry mother eagle. I’m not sure about Standard Operating Procedure, but Gilbert was armed and opened fire on the eagle with his trusty pistol, but missed.The greatest loss of life directly linked to a bird strike took place on October 4, 1960, when an Eastern Air Lines Flight 375, Lockheed L-188 Electra, flying from Boston hit a flock of starlings during take-off, damaging all four engines. 

The aircraft crashed into Boston harbour killing 62 out of 72 passengers. This focused authorities on the dangers of bird strikes. This crash wasn’t only about avians, but poor maintenance because a pilots seat that slid backwards was cited as part of the litany of events that caused the plane to stall.Another bird-strike incident that was critical in the development of improved standards was the United Air Lines Flight 297 crash.

It was a scheduled flight from Newark International Airport to Atlanta which plunged to the ground 10 miles southwest of Baltimore on November 23, 1962, killing all 17 people on board.
Most accidents occur when a bird collides with the windscreen or is sucked into the engine of jet aircraft, annual damage estimated to be $400 million within the United States alone and up to $1.2 billion to commercial aircraft worldwide.

This episode we’re going to take a look at commercial airliners that have hit obstacles near runways and how three accidents in the small town of Elizabeth New Jersey in 1951 and 1952 led to rules about clear ways and re-zoning. 

It’s important though to stress how the rules have changed improving safety particularly with regard to clear ways. 

Take one of the the earliest which was the 1933 Imperial Airways Ruysselede incident on 30 December 1933 when an Avro Ten collided with a radio mast at the town of Ruysselede, West Flanders, Belgium and crashed killing all ten people on board. 

The Avro Ten's registration was G-ABLU, nickname Apollo, and had entered service with Imperial Airways in May 1931. Apollo the Avro Ten departed Cologne at 12:20 local time -  20 minutes later than scheduled.  A thick fog hampered the flight, and the pilots headed out on a track to the north of the normal route. They appeared to be blissfully unaware of the threat that awaited. Less than an hour later at 13h15 the aircraft was cruising at 250 feet when it hit a guy wire of the 870 foot tall Ruysselede radio mast.

The force of the strike demolished the top section of the mast and the Avro Ten lost a wing and crashed. Four workers at the radio station rushed to help those on board the aircraft, joined by local villagers from Ruysselede. 

At least one passenger survived the crash, but in a horrible moment, before they could save him, then there was an explosion and the aircraft burnt up despite valiant attempts by the rescuers to get to those on board all perished. 

Thirteen of the rescuers suffered serious burns they were so committed. It’s time now to take a closer look at three accidents in a small town called Elizabeth located close to New Jersey’s Newark International Airport that were going to change aviation regulations regarding zoning and clear ways amongst other rules. 

The first crash took place on December 16 1951, when a Miami Airlines flight from Newark to Tampa hit a warehouse in an industrial stretch of the Elizabeth River. 

All 56 passengers and crew died. Witnesses described seeing the Curtiss C-46 Commando plane belching smoke after take off. The plane lost altitude, swept low over Elizabeth CBD, stalled, and crashing into the warehouse — parts of the plane skidded through the building into the river Elizabeth. This second crash led Elizabeth Mayor James T. Kirk to demand that Newark Airport be closed, a move opposed by the Port Authority because of those two terminal illnesses called stupid politics and greed. But there was a third crash that was imminent - and strike three would change everyone's minds.

Episode 38 - Newark Airport’s “umbrella of death” and Jimmy Doolittle’s clear ways

I'm a pilot obsessed with flying and all things aviation. This podcast series covers more than a century of commercial aviation and how its shaped the world. Aviation is now safer than its ever been, but it took one hundred years of learning and often through accidents and incidents to reduce the risk of flying.

Episode 24 - Alaskan Flight 1866, American Airlines Flight 965 and Don Bateman’s brilliant EGPWS

Plane Crash Diaries

Related tracks