USAir Flight 1016
Charlotte/Douglas International Airport | |
Occupants | 57 |
---|---|
Passengers | 52 |
Crew | 5 |
Fatalities | 37[1] |
Injuries | 20[1] |
Survivors | 20 |
USAir Flight 1016 was a regularly scheduled flight in the
Flight
History of the flight
On Saturday, July 2, 1994, the
At 18:40, a tower controller issued a
Crash
At 18:42 EDT, the DC-9 touched down in a field within the airport boundary, about 0.5 miles (0.8 km) from the threshold of Runway 18R.[1]: 33 It then crashed through the airport fence and impacted several trees, breaking apart while skidding down a residential street that was on the airport boundary. The plane broke into four major sections, and the front 40 feet (12 m), including the cockpit and the unoccupied first class passenger cabin, came to rest in the middle of Wallace Neel Road. The rear section of the fuselage, including the tail and the rear-mounted engines, came to rest in the carport of a house.
Of the 52 passengers, 37 died from blunt force trauma, burns from the fire or carbon monoxide inhalation. An additional 14 passengers suffered serious injuries, and one had minor injuries.[1]: 37–38 Of the five crew members, both pilots suffered minor injuries, two flight attendants were seriously injured and the remaining flight attendant sustained minor injuries. No one on the ground was injured.[1]: 8
The airport's previous major incident occurred on September 11, 1974, when Eastern Air Lines Flight 212, also a DC-9, crashed during approach, killing 72.[6]
Investigation and response
The NTSB immediately dispatched an investigation team, which recovered the
- The flight crew's decision to continue an approach to an area where a microburst was likely.
- The failure of the flight crew to recognize wind shear quickly (exacerbated by an error in the wind shear alert software; the wind shear alert system should have warned them about 8–9 seconds prior to impact)[1]: 12
- The failure of the flight crew to establish proper pitch and engine power that would have brought them out of the wind shear
- The lack of timely weather information by air traffic control to the crew of Flight 1016
In the media
The Flight 1016 crash is discussed in a
See also
- USAir Flight 427 - another fatal accident involving USAir that happened two months later
- Delta Air Lines Flight 191
- Martinair Flight 495
- Pan Am Flight 759
- Pan Am Flight 806
- American Airlines Flight 1420
- United Nations Flight 834
- 1956 Kano Airport BOAC Argonaut crash
- 1950 Air France multiple Douglas DC-4 accidents
- Airborne wind shear detection and alert system
- Aeroméxico Connect Flight 2431
- Low level windshear alert system
Notes
References
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Transportation Safety Board.
- ^ Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
- ^ "USAir jet crashes in Charlotte". Sunday Star-News. (Wilmington, North Carolina). Knight-Ridder-Tribune News Service. July 3, 1994. p. 1A.
- ^ Nowell, Paul (July 3, 1994). "Jet crash claims 18 lives". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. p. 1A.
- ^ Nowell, Paul (July 4, 1994). "Crash followed wind shear alert". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. p. 3A.
- ^ "Death toll at 37 in USAir crash". Wilmington Morning Star. (North Carolina). Knight-Ridder-Tribune News Service. July 4, 1994. p. 1A.
- ^ "Airliner crashes with 78 aboard". Free Lance-Star. Fredericksburg, Virginia. Associated Press. September 11, 1974. p. 3.
- ^ "Racing the Storm". Mayday. Season 1. Episode 2. 2003.
- ^ "Storming Out". Mayday. Season 17. Episode 6. 2017.
- ^ "Air Disasters: Storming Out". Smithsonian Channel. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
- ^ "Death Cheaters". The Unexplained. 1999.
11. Air Disasters, Malcolm MacPherson, Collins, London, 2008, Paperback.