Commuter Plane Crash @ Charlotte NC Airport (BREAKING)

www.msnbc.com ^ | 8 Jan 03 | MSNBC

[TankerKC]

Breaking news. Charlotte to Greenville flight--19 on board. Crashed on takeoff into a US Airways hangar.

More to follow...

[Admin Moderator]

Thanks for posting the definition. However, then you proceed to use only half of the definition in calling another poster a bigot (you claim she is partial to her own group, but do not even attempt to show she is intolerant of those who differ). But that is picking nits. We discourage personal attacks on this forum. Please avoid them.

Thanks, AM

[TechJunkYard]

NTSB Briefing 13:00

On-scene investigation wrapping up.. this is the last briefing to be held in Charlotte.

"We have continuity" on the control cables going to the tail... no cable breaks, no bolts missing, etc.

Mechanics interviewed last night. Interviewers are enroute to Kansas to inspect hard copy maint records.

Air Midwest has inspected their fleet and found no problems.

[JMK]

I've been reading through all of the comments here regarding a possible weight & balance problem being the cause of the crash. However, there's one thing I haven't noticed anyone mentioning.

I worked for a commuter airline (which shall remain nameless) in Boston a decade ago. When loading a 1900 up, at certain baggage count thresholds, a ballast bag would need to be moved from the cargo hold (C2) to a compartment in the nose. Each ballast bag (there were 3) weighed about 20-25 pounds (I can't remember exactly).

Question: Would an extra 60-75 pounds in the very back of the plane be enough to induce an unrecoverable climb & stall (assuming a normal cargo load for a fully-loaded airplane)?

[TinkersDam]

With all control cables intact, it appears that it was either an out of balance trim tab or simply excessive weight particularly at the rear of the plane.

Standard weight passengers and standard weight suitcases may be just about as realistic as slender actresses/models and real women.

I don't know about ballast but with the plane full of passengers, the cargo hold would have been full of luggage not ballast.

Even though control cables are intact the FDR shows that elevator travel was extensive and erratic, so something may have caused it to occur without command inputs. Flutter? Its hard to imagine flutter at low speeds particularly when there had already been some post-maintenance flights that were not catastrophic.

[MindBender26]

re: 75 pounds out of place in readof A/C.

Yes it could, because W/B can bevery critical and where you are describing it placed would be at the end of the "movement arm" (think "lever")

Too much weight forward = A/C never gets off ground. Too much weight aft = uncontoled climb = stall, spin, crahh, burn.

[TinkersDam]

Right. Too much weight aft can cause just what happened. A sharp climb, full stall, a quick roll or two, even a roll to fully inverted.

Trouble is there is supposed to be a margin of error and there are supposed to be weight and balance calculations.

[MindBender26]

Exactly. There are supposed to be proceedures to prevent every calamity; Chernobyl, Challanger, Columbine, etc.

Proceedures don't FUBAR. People do.

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

I think you are right, however, I still find myself asking..."who did the Clintons know on that flight?" LOL! Too many years of conditioning...

[TinkersDam]

In a companion thread discussing the jammed stabilizer theory, I recently posted a comment about the FAA's interim order that all passengers and baggage for similar aircraft flights be weighted to determine if 'actual' versus 'theoretical assumptions' provides a significant erosion of error margins.