Cant You Read The Signs?

Airplanes are mechanical contrivances. So it shouldnt come as a surprise to learn they sometimes break. The object, of course, is for them to break on the ground, preferably right in front of a maintenance shop at which you have a credit on your account. It rarely works out that way, of course. Instead, airplanes can and do break while were flying them. But even when they let us down, they usually have been signaling in some fashion whats about to happen.

Joseph E. (Jeb) Burnside

Thursday, February 16, 2017 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

The accident emphasizes the danger of pilots ignoring clear mechanical warnings; the flight crew continued a takeoff despite multiple indications of engine malfunction.
The NTSB determined the probable cause was the pilots' failure to abort the takeoff after experiencing engine power loss with adequate runway remaining, and their subsequent failure to maintain adequate airspeed, leading to an aerodynamic stall.
While the specific cause of the engine's intermittent power loss could not be determined due to post-crash fire damage, the critical factor was the pilots' decision-making in proceeding with obvious mechanical issues and their subsequent loss of control at low altitude.

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Airplanes are mechanical contrivances. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise to learn they sometimes break. The object, of course, is for them to break on the ground, preferably right in front of a maintenance shop at which you have a credit on your account. It rarely works out that way, of course. Instead, airplanes can and do break while we’re flying them. But even when they let us down, they usually have been signaling in some fashion what’s about to happen.

A worn tire blows out after a firm landing; the radio that’s been getting progressively worse finally gives up with a loud pop; that hard-to-start engine finally won’t wake up; the magneto that barely makes it through a run-up finally doesn’t. Ideally, we’d recognize the signs for what they are—the airplane is trying to tell us something—but we frequently ignore them. Perhaps the airplane isn’t speaking to us loudly enough; perhaps we’re not listening.