Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 529
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| Summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | August 21, 1995 |
| Type | Mechanical failure |
| Site | Near Carrollton, Georgia, USA |
| Passengers | 26 |
| Crew | 3 |
| Injuries | 20 |
| Fatalities | 9 (1 died 4 months after the NTSB tally; the tally states 8 fatalities [2]) |
| Survivors | 20 |
| Aircraft type | Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia |
| Operator | Atlantic Southeast Airlines |
| Tail number | N256AS |
Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 529, registration N256AS, was an Embraer Brasilia aircraft that crashed near Carrollton, Georgia on August 21, 1995 while on a flight from the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport in Gulfport, Mississippi. Nine of the 29 passengers and crew on board eventually died due to injuries suffered in the accident.
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[edit] Aircraft
The aircraft had been delivered to Atlantic Southeast Airlines on March 3, 1989. Before the fatal flight it had flown 18,171 flights.
[edit] Passengers
Business travelers, ranging from 18 to 69 years of age, formed most of the aircraft's passengers. Six engineers, two deputy sheriffs, two air force personnel, a minister, and a New Orleans woman planning to become a flight attendant boarded the aircraft. [1][2]
[edit] The accident
Flight 529 left the ramp area at Atlanta at 12:10, and took off at 12:23. At 12:43:25 and climbing through 18,100 feet, the occupants of the aircraft heard a thud which Matt Warmerdam, the co-pilot, described as sounding like a baseball bat striking an aluminum trash can. One of the blades of the propeller on the left engine had failed and the entire assembly had become dislodged, deforming the engine nacelle and distorting the wing's profile.
Although the EMB 120 is designed to fly with one engine simply malfunctioning, the distortion of the engine resulted in excessive drag and loss of lift on the left side of the aircraft, causing it to rapidly lose altitude.
The captain, Ed Gannaway, and Warmerdam initially tried to return to Atlanta for an emergency landing, but the rapid descent resulted in them being diverted to West Georgia Regional Airport. The airplane was unable to stay in the air that long and the pilots began searching for an open space to make a crash landing on the plane's belly. At 12:52:45 the airplane struck the tops of the trees and crashed into a field in Carroll County, Georgia near the farming community of Burwell and the city of Carrollton. [1]
[edit] Casualties
All of the passengers and crew aboard Flight 529 survived the initial impact; the fatalities were caused by a post-crash fire.[1]
The fire, which started about one minute after impact, killed Gannaway, who had been knocked unconscious in the crash landing.[2] The oxygen bottle behind the copilot seat later ignited, contributing to the strength of the fire. Warmerdam, bearing a dislocated shoulder, sustained burns as he used his left hand to hold an axe and cut through the thick cockpit glass. David McCorkell, a surviving passenger, pulled the axe out of the cockpit through a hole and struck the glass in order to increase the size of the hole and help Warmerdam escape. The emergency crews pulled Warmerdam out of the aircraft.[1]
Several passengers sustained serious burns and seven died within thirty days of the crash, bringing the official death toll to eight. A ninth victim died four months after the crash from severe burn injuries.[3] None of the passengers or crew escaped uninjured; eight had minor injuries.
Many of the passengers suffered survivor's guilt; some believed that they should have assisted passengers such as James Gerard Kennedy, known as "Jim Kennedy" to friends and "Gerry" to his relatives. Kennedy died in the fire caused by the crash.[2]
Mary Jean Adair, one of the survivors, died of a heart attack eight weeks after the crash; she was included in a dedication to the people killed by the crash in a memorial service at an elementary school gymnasium some years later.[2]
[edit] Probable cause
The probable cause of the accident was determined to be the failure of the propeller due to undiscovered metal fatigue resulting from corrosion. There had been at least two previous failures of the same propellers, but those aircraft had been able to land safely. The propellers had been recalled and serviced at a Hamilton Standard facility, but the inspection had been incomplete and the refurbishing work ineffective.
The NTSB criticized Hamilton Standard, who had maintained the props, for "inadequate and ineffective corporate inspection and repair techniques, training, documentation and communication", and both Hamilton and the FAA for "failure to require recurrent on-wing ultrasonic inspections for the affected propellers". The overcast skies and low cloud ceiling at the crash site also contributed to the severity of the crash.
[edit] Books and documentaries
- The disaster was featured on Mayday (Air Crash Investigation, Air Emergency) in the episode "Wounded Bird" (also known in some countries as "A Wounded Bird" and "One Wing Flight").
- A book on the disaster, Nine Minutes, Twenty Seconds: The Tragedy & Triumph of ASA Flight 529 by Gary Pomerantz, was written in 2001.
[edit] After the crash
The Military Fraternal Organization of Pilots awarded Warmerdam its medallion for his role in the disaster after treatment for burns. Warmerdam resumed flying for ASA.[1]
Many surviving passengers credited Robin Fech, the flight attendant, with saving their lives. Tanner Medical Center treated Fech's broken wrist and other lacerations before releasing her.[4] The Georgia State Senate passed a resolution honoring Fech.[5] The NTSB accident report commended "the exemplary manner in which the flight attendant briefed the passengers and handled the emergency".[6] Dawn Dumm, a survivor, cried out to Fech, who was with passengers in the hayfield, and did not see Fech come back to assist her and her mother, Adair. Dumm initially criticized Fech; later she reasoned that Fech could not hear her screams and/or did not see her in the smoke. In addition Fech was proven to have been assisting passengers during that moment in the hayfield. Fech stated that she felt upset by Dumm's criticism.[2] Fech never worked as a flight attendant after the ASA 529 disaster. [1]
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c d e f "Wounded Bird," Mayday
- ^ a b c d e 9 Minutes 20 Seconds
- ^ Under 49 CFR Part 830.2, a fatal injury is one which results in death within 30 days of the accident.[1]
- ^ "Heroic flight attendant returns to Georgia crash site," CNN
- ^ "SR 407 - Robin Fech - honoring," Senate of Georgia
- ^ NTSB Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Inc., Flight 529
[edit] External links
- Aviation Safety Network Accident profile and CVR transcript
- NTSB report (PDF file)
- Article describing the crash and aftermath
- Nine Minutes, Twenty Seconds excerpt
- The Power of Emergency Training - An article about Robin Fech's role
- Three dead in Georgia commuter crash CNN
- Heroic flight attendant returns to Georgia crash site CNN
- "Fear of flying" - book review in Forbes
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