United Airlines Flight 2885
Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport | |
| Destination | Los Angeles International Airport |
|---|---|
| Occupants | 3 |
| Passengers | 0 |
| Crew | 3 |
| Fatalities | 3 |
| Survivors | 0 |
United Airlines Flight 2885 was a scheduled cargo flight from
Chronology
The aircraft involved in the accident, a 14-year-old
Causes
The
As the investigators found, the flight engineer had entered a DC-8 first officer upgrade training in June 1979; however, the instructors found his abilities less than adequate and the training was terminated two months later.[2] The flight engineer resumed his first officer training in February 1980, this time for the Boeing 737; while improving, his abilities were still inadequate—as his instructor stated, "his attitude could not be better and he is a very hard worker, however, he has not made normal progress in his first full year as a first officer."[2] After several failed en-route and proficiency checks, the flight engineer made an agreement not to bid anymore for pilot vacancies and remain a flight engineer for the balance of his career.[2]
The direct reason for an abnormally nose-up position was found to be an excessively high stabilizer trim setting (7.5 units airplane nose-up);[2] likely, in the confusion due to switching seats, the pilots failed to reset the trim setting while performing takeoff checklists.[4] (It was reported the first officer made this mistake occasionally.[2]) Taking off at night, with no visual references, the inexperienced flight engineer did not manage to correct the attitude in time, leading to engine surges, aircraft banking and eventually an upset and an unrecoverable stall. It is not known why the captain did not manage to correct the situation.[2] The captain's decision to allow the flight engineer to perform the takeoff was considered a contributing factor in the accident.[2][4]
During an investigation, other United pilots anonymously admitted that swapping seats and flight engineers performing takeoffs and/or landings, while a rare occurrence, were not unheard of on ferry or cargo flights.[2]
See also
- National Airlines Flight 27, where in-flight experimentation may have caused an uncontained engine failure
- Northwest Airlines Flight 188, where the pilots overflew their destination by over a hundred miles due to a lack of attention
- Pinnacle Airlines Flight 3701, a crash where the pilots decided to take the aircraft to its maximum altitude and subsequently crashed
- Aeroflot Flight 593, a crash in which the pilots let a minor fly the aircraft
- Aeroflot Flight 6502, a crash in which the pilots bet they could land blind
References
- ^ "Plane Crash Info". PlaneCrashInfo.com. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "United Airlines Flight 2885, N8053U, McDonnell Douglas DC-8-54F, Detroit, Michigan, January 11, 1983" (PDF). National Transportation Safety Board. October 31, 1983. NTSB/AAR-83/07. Retrieved February 8, 2015. - Copy at Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University.
- ^ "FAA Registry (N8053U)". Federal Aviation Administration.
- ^ a b c d "Event Details". Flight Simulator Systems LLC. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
- Newspapers.com.