Thu, Jan 09, 2003
The FAA has taken the dramatic step of ordering
immediate inspections of 45 aircraft serviced at the same facility
that performed maintenance on Air Midwest's ill-fated Flight 5481.
Recent data harvested from the doomed aircraft's Flight Data
Recorder points to work done on the aircraft's horizontal stab and
elevator as possibly causal in the accident that killed 21 people
on Wednesday, while departing Charlotte/Douglas International
Airport. The aircraft took off normally and assumed a proper 7
degree deck angle for the initial climb... but quickly pitched up
to 52 degrees, a wholly unsafe attitude, before rolling left and
descending to impact. The entire flight time was estimated at 37
seconds.
The NTSB investigation, led by John Goglia, seems
to be closing in quickly on a possible cause for the recent
tragedy. According to Goglia, "...we do know that the elevator tab
was replaced and that would require cable tensions to be
readjusted. Those are significant events for the flight control
system of this aircraft."
"We need to know what procedures were followed," reported
Goglia. "Was the procedure valid? Did this facility and these
people perform any similar maintenance on any other airplanes in
the last few weeks? We're going to look at that in great
detail."
Air Midwest Statement
Shortly after we first reported this story, we
received the following info... "Air Midwest tonight began the
immediate inspection of the elevator controls on three
Raytheon/Beech 1900D aircraft. These three aircraft had
undergone similar maintenance checks at the Raytheon
Aerospace, LLC facility in Huntington, West Virginia as the
aircraft involved in Wednesday's accident. Air Midwest expects to
complete these inspections by Friday morning.
As an added precaution, Air Midwest has elected to inspect the
elevator controls on its entire fleet of forty-three Raytheon/Beech
1900D aircraft. These inspections will be conducted over the next
72 hours.
'We are moving proactively with an abundance of caution and
prudence in the best interests of safety,' said Mesa Air Group
Chairman and CEO Jonathan Ornstein. 'We continue to coordinate
efforts with the National Transportation Safety Board and Federal
Aviation Administration.'"
The statement, issued via a PR Service, did not make
mention of the fact that the inspections were actually ORDERED by
the FAA...
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