NTSB final report: Pilots saved Michigan basketball team in 2017
The final NTSB report is out today on the 2017 emergency landing, and while we already knew it was a near thing, the details emphasize how those pilots were legit heroes.
PIC is Pilot in Command, and yes, his decision to not grab the controls in a moment of emergency even when he disagreed with the action shows remarkable judgment and is indeed worthy of praise. Not every pilot would have done that, and I'm going to refrain from further editorial comment there.
Just goes to show how fortunate the team was to have this crew in the plane. They did a great job.
Give that man lifetime free home basketball tickets! What the heck, throw in football and hockey too.
Just the basketball tickets, we are trying to reward the man.
From the full report I linked:
Rarely could all of the safeguards in place to ensure an airplane is airworthy before departure (such as proper aircraft maintenance, preflight inspections, and control checks) fail to detect that an airplane was incapable of flight, as occurred with the jammed elevator on the accident airplane. Perhaps even more remarkable was that a flight crew would be placed in a situation in which the airplane’s inability to fly would not be discoverable until after it had accelerated past V1 during a takeoff roll. The captain had extensive flight experience with many takeoffs, but none of them presented a scenario like the one he faced during the accident takeoff. Although the captain was relatively new to flying the Boeing MD-83, because of his prior experience in the Boeing DC-9 (a variant with an identical elevator system and controls), he correctly assessed the state of the accident airplane and quickly called for and initiated the rejected takeoff. Thus, the NTSB concludes that, once the airplane’s inability to rotate became apparent, the captain’s decision to reject the takeoff was both quick and appropriate.
A great, simple moment of heroism that boils down to a person who has spent their life honing a skill being required to make a split-second life-or-death decision that goes against all of his training and recommendations, executing it, and being absolutely right.
Yeah but how many stars did the pilots have coming out of pilot high school?
I read a lot of the wrap ups on plane crashes because they're fascinating to me to see the small things that can lead to a terrible accident. It's crazy how close we were to potentially losing the whole team and staff and numerous others in a crash back then. Thankful for that pilot's quick thinking - it must be terrifying to realize you need to abort take off when you're hurtling down the runway
Real life heroism documented here. This report puts sports fandom in proper perspective. I agree with one of the previous posters. The pilot needs to be recognized. My vote is honorary captain at either ND, MSU or OSU next year. All available 2017 MBB team members (staff, coaches, players, etc.) should be present to celebrate this heroic act.
Truly remarkable the line between life and death.
I flew to D.C. that afternoon on a commuter jet from DTW. I remember the strong winds on the drive to the airport and turbulent takeoff on the flight. We lost power at home. The plane incident is a scary reminder of the narrow separation between safety and tragedy. I'm so thankful the pilot made a good decision and hate to even think about what it would have been like had he didn't. It was a proud moment to watch our team enter the arena that Thursday two years ago in their practice jerseys and give their all following such a harrowing event.
Free tickets for life for that crew!
Hard to believe how narrowly the pilots averted this potential tragedy. Damn, can you even imagine? Besides figuring out how to cope with the tragedy itself, I wonder what exactly the AD would have done. I assume people would have figured something out to keep the program alive like Marshall football in 1971, but man, this would have obviously been one of the most terrible sports related tragedies of all time.
It doesn't even bear thinking about. There were over 100 people on board, including cheerleaders and the pep band. A substantial percentage of the school would have known someone that had been lost. It would be a tragedy beyond comprehension.
Man, an inexperienced pilot would have just tried to make the plane go faster. (Thinking the load was just a little heavier).
Aborting last the point of no return takes cajones, it sure beat the alternative of continuing the takeoff though. I’ve been on a flight with an aborted landing which is definitely preferable to aborting a takeoff. One decision = 116 more people alive, scary
The plane was traveling at 187 miles per hour when the pilot hit the brakes, breaking protocol. He'd been past the point of no return but felt he couldn't get the plane off the ground.
Yep exactly. Aborted takeoffs are rare to begin with, happen more often with smaller planes which are less scary. Significant incident happened here that could have been tragedy and was averted.
Well done, Captain Radloff! Well done!
The Right Stuff.
They sell real estate too?
That pilot is a hero.
However, what the hell kind of plane doesn’t have sensors to detect jammed flaps!? That seems like a serious design flaw.
Jammed flaps aren't a normal condition. The flaps in question aren't directly actuated by cable or hydraulics; trailing edge flaps on the flaps are actually manipulated, using aerodynamic pressure to lift or lower the working flaps on the tail.
It takes extremely high winds to threaten the integrity of the flap mechanism, even higher than the wind speeds that day. However, other factors caused the airspeed to be exceeded. So a process has been recommended to lower the wind speed at which the flaps need to be manually checked.
Would be cool to see the captain and his crew honored at halftime sometime in the future. Maybe invite the team back to AA to celebrate the big ten tournament championship and have the flight crew join them on the court.
It's stuff like this makes you realize throughout life that small decisions made by you and other people have a huge impact on people's lives
(Website double posted my comment)
Thread jack... Iowa lost to Wiscy by 20 points and Bohannon was their leading scorer with 8 points.
Former SAAB 340B pilot. These guys are amazing. No fly by wire, pilots trained on these aircraft really know how to fly.
Windspeed and direction, the most important weather feature for flying. Not being able to obtain the best info prior to takeoff is worrisome yet not the cause of the aborted TO.
AC being parked for that long in high winds, and loss of a primary flight control as a result, is something that should be addressed to prevent any future recurrence.
I stalked the flight they took the next day to Dulles on FlightAware and listening to comms. Once I heard that they were safely in the cargo area (I think that's where charter flights go to deboard), I breathed a sigh of relief. And then they manhandled Illinois in practice duds. GO BLUE
Truly thankful for Captain Radloff's great work, along with everyone else here.
Any of you guys watch the channels/vids on youtube that dissect crashes and such? X pilot is one where they put together simulation and dissect crashes. I'm not even into flying (other than doing it weekly for work) but it's crazy and scary and for some reason I'm hooked on watching them.
Wow. I remember the news that day but really had no idea how close of a call this really was.
Very thankful for that flight crew! As others have mentioned, now that the report is out, it would be great to see them honored at a halftime. Either BB or FB, doesn’t matter but they should be shown our appreciation.
Delta still flies the old MD-83 on the DTW-SRQ route, and my parents take that flight several times a year, and often wished Delta would upgrade those planes.
Interesting that the captain was learning to fly the older MD-83 plane and was training on it at the time, per the article, and I wonder had it not been him who couldn't get the plane in air, and had it been a regular MD-83 pilot, if they'd have aborted it. Seems ironic.
And whats further ironic, that this inicident, lit a proverbial fire under Beilein and the team. They played lights out afterward, and the program has seen more of an upward trend since, I guess almost losing your life can snap you out of lethargy.
My daughter was one of the 116 on that plane. Two takeaways - sometimes you just got to trust your gut, the book be damned. And, hold your babies tight. Nothing else would be worth the loss.
This reminds me of a conversation I had with my anesthesiologist. He pointed out that he wasn't there to put me to sleep but to wake me up.
This was a great post and a great story.
These incidents are fundamentally worthy for their change to ongoing protocols and not the heroic byline for which they are commonly shared. But it's the byline that is resonating for me at the moment.
Thank you to both pilot and co-pilot! This pilot team deserves recognition from Michigan athletics. We are not Marshall and for that, we can (and I assume will) thank both captain and co-pilot. I look forward to the recognition announcement and event.
The NTSB and the pilots' actions are poster art for command and control and government/industrial safety at it's best.
There are probably some MGoPilots who will disagree with my take...but I hate flying in those outdated MD-83s, with their ancient architecture and lack of redundancies built in.
See Alaska Flight 261 RIP.