"The airplane essentially began flying by itself and then pitched up to an angle higher than what you would expect," said National Transportation Safety Board member George Black.

Cargo jet's nose rose after takeoff, probe finds

By Matthew Barrows Bee Staff Writer (Published Feb. 20, 2000)

Federal investigators looking into Wednesday's crash of a DC-8 cargo plane in Rancho Cordova said Saturday the plane's nose suddenly rose up shortly after takeoff.

"The airplane essentially began flying by itself and then pitched up to an angle higher than what you would expect," said National Transportation Safety Board member George Black.

The plane's pilot, Capt. Kevin Stables, told an air traffic controller he was having trouble with the plane's center of gravity just before it slammed into an auto salvage yard, killing all three crew members on board.

Black said a number of factors could have caused the abrupt change in pitch.

Though investigators said they have not ruled out any possible causes of the crash, new evidence makes some scenarios seem less likely.

Black said all four of the engine turbines were turning when the Emery Worldwide plane hit the ground, suggesting that they were operating during the 2-minute, 5-second flight.

Investigators also determined the total weight of the plane was roughly 280,000 pounds, well below the maximum takeoff weight of 328,000 pounds.

The focus of the probe appears to be on how the aircraft was loaded, and investigators Saturday acknowledged that improperly loaded cargo or cargo that slid to the rear of the plane could have caused the aircraft's nose to shift upward.

But finding evidence of a cargo shift in the melted wreckage of the plane and scores of cars has been difficult.

Black said investigators are particularly interested in the so-called bear clamps used to secure the cargo containers on the plane to see if they were properly fastened.

Gregory Feith, NTSB's lead investigator in the crash, said there should have been 90 such clamps on the plane, but recovering them all may be impossible because many were destroyed by the intense heat.

"We have not recovered all of them," Feith said, "and there's a high possibility we won't."

Black, however, said the most important part of the plane -- the rear -- was remarkably intact, including pieces of the cargo containers. If cargo shifted shortly after takeoff, Black said, it would have likely ended up in the rear.

Investigators said they also continued to interview Emery officials and the workers from Miami Aircraft

Support who loaded the plane. Sources said FBI agents will launch a criminal investigation if it is determined there was anything improper about how the plane was loaded.

Emery pilots, many of whom are involved in a labor dispute with Emery Worldwide, have complained for two years about how company planes are loaded.

Black said NTSB agents in Washington continue to examine the plane's cockpit voice recorder and have brought in a pilot who flew with the three crew members to determine who is speaking on the tape.

Officials said it will be several weeks before those tapes are released.

NTSB officials spent part of the day walking the relatives of First Officer George Land of Placerville through the crash site.

"They can imagine terrible things that can be worse than the actual situation," Black said. "We're there to answer any questions, to make them understand what they're seeing."

link

http://www.sacbee.com/news/news/local03_20000220.html

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), February 20, 2000

Answers

Won't the DFDR indicate whether or not a shift in centre of gravity occurred?

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), February 20, 2000.

I go back over the mystery crashes and just keep thinking what a benefit it would have been to have a high speed video of the cockpit and cargo/passenger areas.

With all the telementery info being transmitted, I cannot imagine that adding one more bit of digital info would be either that expensive or difficult.

Did the Egyptian pilot purposely send the plane into a dive? Was Flight 800 hit by a missle? What actually happened in the cockpit of the MD 80?

Millions are spent in post-crash investigation and litigation. Seeing a wrong switch or sleeping pilot could answer a lot of questions for loved ones with an eternal mystery on their hands.

-- ElCoyote (ElCoyote@Wasteland.com), February 20, 2000.

El,excellent Idea,next Step.how do we convince the "Investors",that look only at the Bottom Line?One Way might be to pass on ALL Costs of the Investigation etc.on to these Characters,instead of the Taxpayer.

-- Pass (save@Life.mmMD80), February 20, 2000.

--right on, Pass, saw it with fat cat drunk amateur yachters, once the fedgov switched to sending 'em a coast guard bill for screwing up, all of a sudden boating got a lot safer. would work for planes, too, and would bump up the price of a ticket to the people flying, not being subsidized by the taxpayer, like it is now. Great idea, the video cameras, and also, sending those big companies the bill for the clean up and investigation, excellent!

-- sickofpaying (other@peoplesbills.investigations.coverups), February 20, 2000.

"The airplane essentially began flying by itself and then pitched up to an angle higher than what you would expect," said National Transportation Safety Board member George Black.

Black said a number of factors could have caused the abrupt change in pitch."

There goes those damn non-compliant stabilizer controls again!

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), February 20, 2000.

Well then it must've been non Y2K-compliant vacuum tubes, Hawk.

That plane was possibly older than you are. Emery flies a bunch of second and third hand DC-8s and 727s, all of which are thirty to forty years old.

Cargo shift IS the most likely cause and the cockpit voice recorder will likely have picked-up the sound of pallets on the cargo floor rollers and hitting other pallets or the back of the plane. The real work will be getting that info off of the tapes, cause old jets use old cockpit recorders, too.

If ylu want to see how helpless a crew is when a cargo shift happens, look for the video tapes in the "Challenge of Flight" series. If I'm notmistaken, there was footage of a Navy cargo plane which had a cargo shift on takeoff.

It went up even though you could see the tail move full nose down. And you know the crew was fighting to get the plane under control before it stalled. But it was too late and then the plane rolled-off to one side and went straight down into the water. No survivors.

The wreckage was recovered and they found that two cargo hooks weren't fully latched on one palle. It was the heaviest thing aboard, a jet engine being sent ashore for repair.

When the first pallet broke loose it knocked every piece behind it loose. Lots of broken latches for the investigators to look at until they found the ones which only had the tips broken off. Then they knew the first link in the chain of events of that crash was improperly locked-down cargo.

When a planes center of gravity shifts aft it gets to be very squirrely to fly. The crew aboard that DC-8 had it's hands full but the old bird got away from them. Simple as that. No Y2K at all.

WW

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), February 20, 2000.

By suggesting they add video to the mix - you ASSUME they want to know the cause - or want us to know!

-- Sheri (wncy2k@nccn.net), February 20, 2000.

Sheri,

Conspiricies are all fine & good, but geez, give it a break.

WE have control over what any publicly owned corporation does, 'cuz we own the company through our stocks. Therefore, if TBTB don't want to know the truth, then it must be WE don't want to know the truth.

Just maybe it hasn't been done 'cuz nobody thought of it, or the technology wasn't available, or maybe the pilots don't want to be watched will they pick their nose.

I don't know anyone personally that would put profit before a human life. I doubt that people are that different from you and me just 'cuz they work at Boeing or NTSB.

-- ElCoyote (ElCoyote@Wasteland.com), February 20, 2000.

Wildweasel is absolutely correct in his comments on CG problems caused by payload tiedown problems. You hit the nail on the head!

-- John Thomas (cjseed@webtv.net), February 20, 2000.