Birgenair Flight 301

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**Birgenair Flight 301**
Summary
Date	February 6, 1996
Type	Pilot error
Site	26 km (16.3 mls) NE off Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic
Fatalities	189
Injuries	0
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 757-225
Operator	Birgenair
Passengers	176
Crew	13
Survivors	0

Birgenair Flight 301 was a scheduled Puerto Plata-Frankfurt flight which crashed on February 6, 1996.

On February 6, 1996, 11:42 PM, the Boeing 757 captain, at 80 knots on takeoff, found that his air speed indicator (ASI) was not working properly, while the co-pilot's ASI was ok. While the plane climbed to 4,700 feet the captain's ASI indicated 350 knots, investigations showed it was actually 220 knots, which triggered an autopilot reaction increasing the pitch-up attitude and power reduction to lower the plane's air speed. Both pilots got confused when the co-pilots ASI read 200 knots decreasing while getting rudder ratio and Mach airspeed advisory warnings along with stick shaker warning. Both pilots believed from analyzing the indications from the plane that both ASI's were malfunctioning. The autopilot, which got fed the captains faulty ASI readings, was disconnected by the pilots and they gave full thrust. At 11:47 PM an aural GPWS warning was shown and eight seconds later the plane crashed into the ocean. All 13 crew members and 176 passengers died.

Later the same year AeroPeru Flight 603 suffered from a similar situation and crashed in the ocean off Peru.

[edit] Investigation and final report

The Direccion General de Aeronautica Civil of the Dominican Republic's government investigated the accident and determined the following Probable Cause for the accident:

"The crew's failure to recognize the activation of the stick shaker as a warning of imminent entrance to the stall, and the failure of the crew to execute the procedures for recovery from the onset of loss of control."