Crash of Usair Flight 5050

Crash of USAir Flight 5050

USAir Flight 5050 was scheduled to depart from New York's LaGuardia Airport and scheduled to arrive at Charlotte, North Carolina on September 20, 1989. Fifty-seven passengers and four flight attendants were aboard. On board the flight deck of the Boeing 737 were Captain Micheal Martin and First Officer Constantine Kleissas. The crew had a long layover in New York and was forced to wait for approximately 1 1/2 hours due to the cold and wet weather. Finally at about 11:30pm, the aircraft was cleared for takeoff with Kleissas at the controls.

Crash Details

As the aircraft picked up speed on the takeoff roll, the crew reported that it began to drift to the left, which Kleissas attempted to counteract with rudder inputs. However, the aircraft started its takeoff roll at La Guardia runway 31 with a fully deflected rudder (16° left). The aircraft continued to drift and Martin then attempted to assist by using the nose wheel steering tiller. The crew then reported hearing a bang followed by continued rumbling. At this point, a decision was made to abort the takeoff. At 130 knots (V1 was 125 knots), about halfway down the 7000-foot runway, the Captain rejected the takeoff. The aircraft had accelerated to nearly 140 kts however, and due to the wet conditions of the runway, could not be stopped in time (McCarthy 2000).

Although the crew aborted the takeoff, the aircraft was still rolling when it reached the end of the runway, plunging into Flushing Bay. The aircraft overran the wet runway and dropped onto a wooden approach light pier, which collapsed causing the aircraft to break into three pieces.

The fuselage broke up and came to rest on the approach lights. Two women were the only fatalities. Both were seated at the precise spot where the plane split. In addition, of the 57 passengers and 6 crewmembers aboard the flight, 40 passengers were injured. Two passengers were seriously injured and were taken to local hospitals where they were admitted for chest pains and head injuries.

Investigative Findings of USAir Flight 5050

Investigators believed the rumbling sound to have been the nose wheel turning and then sliding down the runway. Recovery of the flight data recorder showed that the rudder trim had been left in the full left deflection position throughout the takeoff. In fact, it had been in that position since the aircraft was started at the gate. This would normally be an item on the pre-takeoff checklist and recovery of the cockpit voice recorder indicated that the crew had checked the rudder trim during the checklist. It was not determined whether a mechanical malfunction caused the rudder to be out of position or if the crew had simply missed catching it. Investigators concluded that Martin's hesitation on making the decision to abort was the cause of the accident. Martin had only just been upgraded to Captain and USAir flight 505 was Kleissas' first non-supervised flight.

The National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the probable cause of the accident was "the Captain's failure to exercise his command authority in a timely manner to reject the takeoff or take sufficient control to continue the takeoff, which was initiated with a mistrimmed rudder. Also causal was the Captain's failure to detect the mistrimmed rudder before the takeoff was attempted." (National Transportation Safety Board).

Controversy soon filled the probe into the crash when a passenger told investigators that he had been out "bar-hopping" with the pilot, co-pilot and a stewardess just before the flight. The accusations were never proven, and federal investigators later pointed to a defect in the aircraft rudder as the cause of the crash. However, the rudder was subsequently redesigned.

The accident involving USAir Flight 5050 attracted the attention of the Queen's district attorney, who convened a grand jury to determine if criminal charges should be pursued. No formal charges were ever brought. However, the action of the district attorney hampered the normal course of the accident investigation, because the accident scene was declared a "crime scene." Access to the wreckage and witnesses was subjected to the control of the local authorities, which superseded the National Transportation Safety Board's authority. After the field phase of the investigation was completed, the district attorney withdrew, and the investigation was concluded pursuant to normal National Transportation Safety Board procedures.

The crash of USAir Flight 5050 was not a case where the National Transportation Safety Board felt that the accident was caused by a criminal act, and therefore they was relinquishing its jurisdiction to law enforcement agencies. Rather, the National Transportation Safety Board correctly believed it was an accident caused by either a mechanical failure or pilot error in the traditional sense, and that it was not a matter of concern to local law enforcement officials. Nevertheless, the district attorney temporarily prevailed and the investigative process was hampered.