“Air crash documentary covers fate of Flight 3407”

Air crash documentary covers fate of Flight 3407

Posted: 20 Nov 2010 02:26 AM PST

WASHINGTON -- The crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 will take center stage again Sunday in the MSNBC documentary "Why Planes Crash: Human Error," which features new and detailed animation of the accident and several others.

The hourlong program to be broadcast at 9 p.m. examines five plane crashes dating back 40 years that have one thing in common: mistakes by pilots or air traffic controllers that end in tragedy.

The documentary "uses unique graphics accompanied by compelling interviews to show viewers a perspective they would otherwise never see of the anatomy of an aviation accident," said Judith Greenberg, senior producer for MSNBC.

While offering no new revelations, the segment about the February 2009 crash in Clarence includes a dramatic recreation that, unlike the animation done by the National Transportation Safety Board, shows the plane hitting a house and bursting into flames.

MSNBC aviation analyst John Cox and the producers worked with Mechanism Digital of New York to produce the animations.

"We hoped to offer the audience a window into what happened in each crash that they could not have through existing footage," Greenberg said.

The show also gives a comprehensive review of the problems behind the Clarence crash, ranging from inappropriate chatter in the cockpit to pilot fatigue and inadequate training.

Mike Loftus, a retired Continental pilot who lost his daughter, Maddie, in the crash, noted that the crew did not have hands-on training in the plane's stall recovery system. Apparently as a result, the pilot pulled backed on the controls when he should have pushed forward, thereby forcing the plane into an aerodynamic stall.

"The alarm is going off, the stick is pulled out of your hands; the natural reaction is to take it and yank it back," Loftus said. "So the natural reaction is what he did -- because he's never been trained."

Greenberg said the Flight 3407 crash is an important part of the documentary "because it is such a heartbreaking example of how a cascade of things could have gone differently. Passengers and crew lost their lives because they could not rely on the skill level and training of the pilot in the cockpit."

On the program, Mary Schiavo, former inspector general for the U.S. Transportation Department, attributes that to the business model of regional airlines such as Colgan, which receive contracts to operate flights on behalf of the major airlines.

Because those contracts are fixed-price, regional airlines have a huge incentive to cut costs on aircraft and on the pilots who fly them, she said.

"Their whole business model is to fly inexpensive aircraft and save a lot of money," Schiavo said.

"Flying Cheap," a PBS "Frontline" documentary broadcast in February, dwelled exclusively on that point and on the Flight 3407 crash.

While flying is statistically the safest form of transportation, the MSNBC program appears to indicate no end to the possible errors that can bring down a plane.

The documentary explains how a controller mistakenly left a small plane on the runway in the path of a USAirways jet, how an Avianca pilot ran out of fuel and how a pilot's overuse of the rudder pedals is believed to have resulted in the tail falling off an American Airlines jet that crashed in Queens in 2001.

The tales of pilot ineptitude date back to 1972, when an Eastern Airlines pilot accidently shut off the autopilot while trying to change a control-panel light bulb, thereby steering his plane into the Everglades and claiming 101 lives.

The film also details the safety changes that were made after the crashes. But unlike the other mishaps, the Clarence crash prompted wide-ranging aviation safety legislation, dramatically boosting the amount of experience pilots must have before they can fly passengers.

The story of Flight 3407 "shows a tangible response to the pain and outrage after the crash," Greenberg said.

Note: News Washington Bureau Chief Jerry Zremski, who covered the federal investigation of the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407, was interviewed for and appears briefly in the documentary "Why Planes Crash: Human Error."

jzremski@buffnews.comnull

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