From Times Online

February 3, 2010

Airlines in the United States have been told to review their flying standards after the crash of a commuter jet was officially blamed on elementary error by the captain.

The crash of the Colgan Air turbo-prop, which killed 50 people at Buffalo, New York, a year ago, was caused by Captain Marvin Renslow pulling the control column the wrong way, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said in its report on the accident.

The warning over poor performance on the flight deck echoed a view among experts in the US and Europe that some pilots lack old-fashioned skills in the automated cockpits of modern airliners.

On the Colgan Bombardier airliner, an automatic “stick shaker” vibrated the columns to alert the pilots that the aircraft was flying too slowly as it approached to land at Buffalo. Mr Renslow, 47, pulled back, raising the aircraft’s nose. This triggered an aerodynamic stall, sending the Bombardier airliner into an uncontrolled dive to the ground. All 49 onboard died as well as a man on the ground.

All pilots, from their first lesson, are taught never to raise the nose of an aircraft that is close to stalling. Lowering the nose — which is counter to instinct — increases the speed of the air over the wings, ensuring that lift is maintained.

The NTSB said: “The captain’s response to stick shaker activation should have been automatic, but his improper flight control inputs were inconsistent with his training and were instead consistent with startle and confusion.”

Neither the captain or Rebecca Shaw, the 24-year-old first officer, appeared to have recognised that the aircraft was approaching a stall, it said.

The NTSB also noted a series of failures by the crew on the airliner, which was operating as a Continental Connection flight. Ms Shaw sent text messages from her mobile telephone while preparing for take-off from Newark, New Jersey. There was a misunderstanding between captain and co-pilot on the setting of a minimum speed alert. Before take-off the captain set it at a higher than standard speed to allow for possible icing but the co-pilot was unaware of this. Neither noticed ample visual warnings that speed was dropping to the minimum. There was unnecessary chatter between the crew. Ms Shaw was also tired from flying cross-country overnight to start her shift and she was suffering from a heavy cold.

The NTSB called on airlines to improve their crew training and procedures. That echoed an internal report in Air France last year, which raised the alarm over complacency and told its pilots that they needed to brush up on their technique as aviators. They should spend time hand-flying small aircraft, it told them.

The NTSB report also warned against the dangers of using mobile telephones and other appliances while in the pilot’s seat. “Distractions caused by personal portable electronic devices affect flight safety because they can detract from a flight crew’s ability to monitor and cross-check instruments, detect hazards, and avoid errors,” it said. Similar advice came after the incident last autumn when a Northwest Airlines aircraft overflew its destination airport in Minneapolis because the pilots’ attention was focused on a discussion that involved using their laptop computers.

The NTSB noted other factors related to the Colgan crash, on a snowy night on February 12, 2009. Captain Renslow had failed five performance checks over the course of his flying career, although his employer knew of only three. The crew had failed to follow standard procedures for communicating between themselves and cross-checking their actions.

Contrary to earlier assumptions on the accident, the aircraft was not suffering from iced wings when it slowed to land. When the stick-shaker began, the aircraft was not yet in a stalled state. The smooth air-flow over the wings and tail was only disrupted when he pulled back on the column, over-riding the stick-pusher that comes into action automatically as a last resort on the edge of a stall.

Deborah Hersman, head of the NTSB, said that the accident casts doubt on the safety standards at regional US airlines compared with the major carriers.

By Derrick Nunnally and Robert Moran
Inquirer Staff Writers

The widow of Ambler executive Steven Altman has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in federal court in Philadelphia over the Aug. 8 airplane-helicopter crash that killed nine, including Altman, over the Hudson River in New York City.

The suit on behalf of Pamela Altman alleges that the helicopter tour company ran a reckless “bumper-car operation” and that its “bully” insurance companies had taken her to court trying to recover the cost of the lost helicopter.

Steven Altman, of the Altman Group in Fort Washington, was piloting the single-engine Piper that collided with the helicopter. The accident was captured on video and drew international attention.

Arthur Wolk, Pamela Altman’s attorney, said last night he also planned to sue the Federal Aviation Administration for the actions of the air-traffic controller directing Altman and the controller’s supervisor.

The Teterboro Airport controller had made a personal call after clearing Altman for takeoff and was on the phone until the plane and helicopter collided. His supervisor had left the building to run a personal errand. Both are on administrative leave.

A National Transportation Safety Board investigation remains open.

Wolk said the Altman family remained “totally devastated by this.”

Pamela Altman’s suit seeks more than $1.35 million in damages from the  Liberty Helicopter Inc. tour company, helicopter owner Meridian Consulting Corp., manufacturer American Eurocopter L.L.C., and insurance companies.

Her suit, filed Wednesday, claims that “lax management and operational attitude” by Liberty Helicopter and Meridian Consulting caused “a horrid history of accidents” over the Hudson and East Rivers before her husband’s fatal wreck and that the companies did little to prevent such accidents.

A message left by the Associated Press with Liberty Helicopters was not immediately returned, and a working phone number for Meridian could not be found.

Steven Altman, 60, was flying his brother, Daniel, 49, and nephew, Douglas, 16, to Ocean City, N.J. All were killed in the crash, as were the helicopter pilot and five Italian tourists.

Published September 4, 2009 by William Lee, Chicago Tribune

A Cook County judge on Thursday approved a $15 million settlement for the family of a restaurateur killed in a small airplane crash near a Wheeling airport in 2006.

Michael Waugh, 37, and three others were killed when the twin-engine Cessna 421B they were riding in crashed into a storage yard as it approached Chicago Executive Airport in Wheeling in January 2006.

Waugh of Algonquin was general manager and chief operating partner of Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab in Chicago.

The settlement, approved by Circuit Judge John Ward, awards $6 million to Waugh’s widow, with the rest being divided among the couple’s three young sons.

The wrongful death suit alleged that the Morgan Stanley financial firm improperly allowed employees to fly personal planes to conduct business.

The suit also blamed pilot Mark Turek, 59, a senior vice president in Morgan Stanley’s Riverwoods office, with negligence.

“We think that was improper because … every single other financial institution prohibits that,” said attorney Gary Robb, who represented Waugh’s widow, Lisa.

Also killed in the crash was Kenneth Knudson, 61, founder of Sybaris, and Scott Garland, 40, of Chicago, another financial adviser at Morgan Stanley.