ALM Flight 980
This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2018) |
St. Maarten | |
Occupants | 63 |
---|---|
Passengers | 57 |
Crew | 6 |
Fatalities | 23 |
Injuries | 37 |
Survivors | 40 |
ALM Antillean Airlines Flight 980 was a flight scheduled to fly from
Aircraft and crew
The aircraft was a twin-engine
Flight and ditching
Flight 980 made a normal departure from Kennedy Airport, and had an uneventful flight to the
Flight 980 then made a second landing attempt, but it, too, was unsuccessful because of alignment with the
Although the pilots flashed the seat belt signs just prior to ditching, confusion remained in the cabin as to when or whether the plane was to touch down.[citation needed] The public address system was not working on the plane, so the cabin were not given any warning of the impending ditching.[citation needed] Consequently, an unknown number of passengers and crew were either standing up, or had their seat belts unfastened, when the aircraft struck the water.[citation needed]
The sea was rough at the time as a result of the weather conditions.[5] The aircraft remained relatively intact after the water landing, but soon sank in about 5,000 ft (1,500 m) of water, and was never recovered.[citation needed] The accident resulted in 23 fatalities, as well as injuries to 37 of the 40 survivors.[citation needed] Both pilots and the navigator survived.[citation needed] The survivors were left bobbing in the turbulent and shark-inhabited sea in their life jackets until rescue came.[5][6] Recovery of the survivors by helicopter began approximately 1+1⁄2 hours after the ditching, and the last survivor, the first officer, was picked up about 1 hour later.[3] The helicopters were guided to the rescue site by a Pan American Airways plane, whose pilot reported the ditching by radio, then circled the scene until help came to help guide rescuers.[5]
Rescue efforts included units from the
Investigation and aftermath
The accident was investigated by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).[citation needed] The report concluded that the cause of the accident was poor fuel management, complicated by the crew's inattention and distraction as a result of the weather situation and multiple diversions.[citation needed] Some specific issues cited include miscalculation of the rate of fuel consumption, misreading fuel gauges, and incorrect computation of the amount of fuel expected to be remaining at the time of landing.[citation needed] The NTSB report stated:
The Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was fuel exhaustion which resulted from continued, unsuccessful attempts to land at St. Maarten until insufficient fuel remained to reach an alternate airport.[3]
— NTSB report
The NTSB also concluded that the chances of survival in the accident were worsened by poor coordination among the crew before and during the ditching.[citation needed]
The recommendations in the report included adding "warn passengers" to the checklist of procedures for
DeWitt was fired six weeks after the incident; he never piloted a plane again.[8][9]
In popular culture
The ditching was also made into a film. The ditching of Flight 980 is featured in the first season 1 episode of The Weather Channel documentary Why Planes Crash. The episode, produced and directed by Caroline Sommers and entitled "Brace for Impact," aired in July 2009. It features an exclusive interview with Captain Balsey DeWitt.[6]
See also
- List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft
- Southern Airways Flight 242, another McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31 which crash landed on a highway due to dual-engine flameout. 22 out of the 85 occupants survived the crash-landing.
- Air Transat Flight 236, an Airbus A330-243 which successfully executed an emergency landing after a dual-engine flameout. Only 18 occupants out of the 306 were injured. Nobody died.
- Air Canada Flight 143, a Boeing 767-233 which successfully executed an emergency landing after a dual-engine flameout. 10 out of the 69 occupants were injured. Nobody died.
- Garuda Indonesia Flight 421, a Boeing 737-3Q8 which ditched into the Solo River after a dual-engine flameout due to exessive hail and heavy rain indigestion. One died out of the 60 occupants on board.
- US Airways Flight 1549, an Airbus A320-214 which ditched into the Hudson River after a dual-engine flameout which was caused by a flock of birds. 100 occupants out of the 150 were injured. Nobody died.
- List of airline flights that required gliding
References
- ^ "ASN Aircraft accident McDonnell Douglas DC-9-33CF N935F St. Croix, Virgin Islands [Caribbean Sea]". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
- ^ "FAA Registry (N935F)". Federal Aviation Administration.
- ^ Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
- ^ Green, Patricia (8 July 2023). "ALM Antillean Airlines Flight 980 - A Cabin Crew Perspective". Simple Flying. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
- ^ a b c d "40 of 63 on New York Jet Safe in Caribbean Ditching". The New York Times. 3 May 1970. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
- ^ a b Sommers, Caroline (12 July 2009). Brace for Impact. Why Planes Crash: NBC Peacock Productions. Archived from the original (TV Documentary) on 13 June 2020. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
- ^ III, Emilio Corsetti. "Fifty Years Ago This May, a Commercial Airliner Ran Out of Fuel and Ditched in the Caribbean Sea". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
- ^ Why Planes Crash Ep. 1 – Brace For Impact, retrieved 25 August 2022