"Hello there viewers...Keiko here again...*I proceed to say this while traditionally bowing to the viewers as usual. To which I then proceed to bring my attention and eyesight back up again, in order to continue to address the viewers. I also now proceed to briefly clear my throat, as I then proceed to continue, to properly address the viewers*...
Now then viewers, for this chapter I will once again be covering several aviation accidents in history...And for this particular chapter viewers, we will be covering three of them...
And each of them, as shown by the chapter title of this particular chapter, is going to be covering one aviation accident, that was attributed to an improper takeoff configuration...
Another, will be attributed to what is known as a 'Reversed Pitch Trim Runaway,' or a 'Runaway Trim/Hot Elevator Trim'....
And the final one viewers, will be attributed to being a mid-air collision...
And yes viewers, I am already well aware that we have already covered several mid air collisions already in these fanfics...
But that doesn't mean viewers, that I can't cover more of them...Now then viewers, lets begin with the first aviation accident...
And for this one, we will start by going all the way back, to August 20, 2008...
And on this particular day back in 2008...Spanair Flight 5022...Which was a scheduled domestic passenger flight originating Barcelona–El Prat Airport, with a stopover in Madrid–Barajas Airport, was on route to its final destination at Gran Canaria Airport, Spain...
The aircraft involved in the accident, was a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, registration EC-HFP. The aircraft, which also happened to be named 'Sunbreeze,' had been manufactured in late 1993. Which was acquired by Spanair in July 1999 from Korean Air.
And at the time of the accident, there were 166 passengers, 4 flight attendants, and two pilots on board. The captain of Flight 5022 was one 39-year-old, Antonio Garcia Luna, who for this leg of the flight, was to be acting as the pilot monitoring. The first officer of flight 5022, was 31-year-old, Francisco Javier Mulet...
Now for some more context viewers, fifty-nine minutes before the flight's second attempted take-off... As the accident would wind up happening the second take off attempt...
As the pilots had actually abandoned the first departure and takeoff, because of excessive temperatures in the ram air turbine probe, or RAT for short.
And because of this, the aircraft was taken to a parking area, where maintenance workers de-activated the RAT probe's heater. And it was only then, that the aircraft was permitted to fly with an inoperable RAT probe heater. Because as it was quite humid and hot on the day of the accident, icing wasn't going to be a problem for flight 5022...
But, what no one knew at the time, was that the disabling of the RAT probe, would wind up playing a role in the accident that was to follow...
And speaking of the accident...and as I mentioned before viewers, that wound up occurring during the second attempt, at 14:24 local time, due to the pilots' failure to deploy the flaps and slats as required for takeoff. As without the use of these "high-lift" devices, the wings could not generate enough lift to keep the aircraft airborne...
Now I know what you viewers are most likely thinking, 'but Keiko, doesn't the MD-80 have some kind of a warning system that would have alerted the pilots if the aircraft was not correctly configured for take-off?'...
Well actually viewers yes, as the MD-80 aircraft, as well as every other aircraft that is flying in the skies today, are all equipped with some kind of a take off configuration warning...
Which if the plane is not properly configured for takeoff, a very loud and audible warning alert, will blare in the cockpit...
Something that wound up being disabled by the pilots of yet another MD-80 aircraft, that wound up crashing on takeoff from Detroit back in 1987...
But that accident viewers, will be covered in a future chapter...
Now getting back to the warning in question?...Well viewers it actually did not sound, as it had been designed to do. And as a result, the pilots continued with the second takeoff attempt. And tragically, as the aircraft took off, it instantly stalled, and impacted the terrain right of the runway strip...To which it then wound up disintegrating, and bursting into flames...
And of the 172 passengers and crew on board, only 18 people survived...and 154 passengers and crew, were killed...
Which makes the crash of Spainair Flight 5022...the deadliest air disaster in Spain, since the 1983 crash of Avianca Flight 011...
Which also viewers, will be covered in a future chapter...And the moral of this particular accident viewers?...Always make sure that the aircraft is properly configured for takeoff...
And now viewers, we will now move onto the second aviation accident of this particular chapter...And for this one, we will be going a little further back in time, all the way back to August 26, 2003...
And on this particular day...Colgan Air Flight 9446...which was a repositioning flight operated by Colgan Air for US Airways Express...
The aircraft in question, was a Beechcraft 1900D crashed into water 300 feet offshore from Yarmouth, Massachusetts, shortly after taking off from Barnstable Municipal Airport in Hyannis...
And as for what was leading up to this particular accident? Well the aircraft had just finished receiving maintenance...And as a result, was being re-positioned to Albany, New York, in order to be returned to revenue service...
Now because this was a repositioning flight, there were no passengers on board. As the only the two occupants of the plane were its pilots. The captain, was one 39 year old Scott Knabe. And Flight 9446s first officer, was one 38 year old, Steven Dean...
Captain Knabe had been with Colgan Air for two years and had 2,891 flight hours, including 1,364 hours on the Beechcraft 1900. Dean had been with the airline for less than a year and had 2,489 flight hours, 689 of which were on the Beechcraft 1900...
Flight 9446 departed Barnstable Municipal Airport at 3:40 PM. But shortly after takeoff, the crew declared an emergency, and reported a trim problem. The aircraft then entered into a left turn and reached an altitude of 1,100 feet. And though the pilots did request a return to Barnstable, and air traffic control cleared the flight to land on any runway. The airplane continued sadly continued its left turn in a nose-up attitude, and then pitched down, before crashing into water near the airport. And sadly, both pilots were killed in the crash...
And as for the cause of the crash of Colgan Flight 9446?...Well viewers, that actually happens to be in part, to the maintenance that had been performed on Flight 9446...
As in this case, several of the planes elevator cables had been worn over years of use, and had to be replaced...But tragically, as the instructions that were being used to put the cables back in place, were not as straightforward as they should have been...
Which in this case, had resulted in the new cables being wrongly installed back in the tail section, in the reversed position...
Which in the case of Flight 9446, resulted in a very unfortunate condition, of what is known, as 'Reversed Pitch Trim Runaway'...Which is when the Trim System controlling the aircraft's elevators, is reversed...
And for both captain Knabe, and first officer Dean to be able to overcome this Trim Reversal...They would have had to have kept at least 250 pounds of continuous opposing force onto their respective control columns...
So in this case viewers, imagine going about your usual daily routines, while dead-lifting at least 250 pounds...And that is the situation that the pilots of Colgan Air Flight 9446 found themselves in...
And now viewers, we will now be moving onto the final aviation accident of this particular chapter...And for this one viewers, we will be going back even further in time, all the way back in fact, to June 6, 1971...
As on this particular day, Hughes Airwest Flight 706...operated by a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31...was on route from Los Angeles, bound for Salt Lake City, Utah, the first of the five intermediate stopovers...Which was to be followed by Boise and Lewiston in Idaho, and Pasco and Yakima in Washington, before finally ending at Seattle...
Hughes Airwest Flight 706 was being piloted by Captain Theodore Nicolay, age 50, who had logged about 15,500 hours of total flying time, with more than 2,500 hours in DC-9s. His co-pilot was First Officer Price Bruner, age 49, who had over 17,100 total hours flying time and almost 300 hours in DC-9s....
Now viewers, as this is a mid-air collision, there was a second aircraft involved in this particular aviation accident...
And the second aircraft, was a U.S. Marine Corps F-4B-18-MC Phantom II, that had been in operation since April 15, 1964. And the time of the accident, it was assigned to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 323, Marine Aircraft Group 11, 3rd Marine Air Wing...Though it had been operated by various squadrons prior to that...
The fighter plane was piloted by one First Lieutenant James R. Phillips, age 27. The radar intercept officer was one 1st Lt. Christopher E. Schiess, age 24...And between them, the crew had more than 1,000 total flight hours. And also, the jet and its crew were based at MCAS El Toro in Orange County, near Irvine...
And at the time of the mid-air collision, the Phantom was part of a cross-country flight of two aircraft when its radio failed while landing at Mountain Home Air Force Base in southwest Idaho. And according to routine orders, the aircraft was to effect repairs at Mountain Home AFB and then return to MCAS El Toro. Diagnostic tests at Mountain Home had revealed the aircraft had an inoperative radio, an inoperative transponder, oxygen system leak, and a degraded radar system. And though maintenance personnel were able to fix the radio and confirm the oxygen leak, the base did not have the necessary personnel to repair either the transponder or the radar...
And even though the transponder was inoperative, Phillips had received permission from his superiors to fly the F-4B anyway. But sadly, as the fighter proceeded to NAS Fallon in Nevada, the oxygen leak deteriorated until the system was disabled completely. And as a result, the pilot was instructed to fly at low altitude. The Phantom II then departed NAS Fallon at 5:16 pm following a flight plan routing across the Fresno, Bakersfield, and Los Angeles air corridors...
And tragically, only a short while later, the Phantoms tail wound up slicing clean through the front section of the Hughes Airwest DC-9...Instantly shearing off the entire front section of the DC-9...which included the forward cabin and cockpit...And thus, caused Flight 706 to fall like a leaf towards the ground, before smashing into a nearby hill, instantly killing all 44 passengers, the 2 pilots, and all 3 flight attendants on board...
The Phantom, though it had suffered severe damage to its tail section, and was now tumbling out of the sky, radar intercept officer 1st Lt. Christopher E. Schiess...was able to eject...
While First Lieutenant James R. Phillips, was not so lucky, and was killed...
And finally viewers, though I have said this in many of these same chapters before...
I will once again reiterate, that I don't mean any sort of disrespect, to those whose lives were lost by either this tragedy, or those like it...
As the only reason why I am mentioning them in these fanfics, is to help preserve the legacy of those who were injured or killed in these tragedies...
And also, to make sure that those who lost people in these tragedies, have some sort of another way to remember their loved ones...
And now viewers, this now marks the end of this non action packed filler chapter...But you can look forward to things getting right back into the action in the next chapter...And so viewers, from me, Angel Bluebell, Zachary, Catherine, and everyone else in The Four Aces Alliance...We all look forward to seeing you lot in the next chapter...So viewers, see you all there, okay?...*I proceed to say this, while I am also proceeding to smile with both of my brown eyes closed, and this is also while I have my head tilted to one side, in my usual very cute looking manner as well*"