Flight Training - December 2019 - 58

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UNABLE TO FLY

A CAPTAIN'S CONTROVERSIAL DECISION SAVES THE DAY
BY PETER A. BEDELL

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THOSE OF YOU FAMILIAR WITH OPERATION

of larger airplanes have likely heard of V1,
the takeoff decision speed. It's the speed
after which, even if an engine bursts and
catches on fire, you continue accelerating
to rotation speed (VR) and deal with the
emergency in flight. Aborting the takeoff
after V1 will almost assuredly end in a
runway overrun.
When I started training at my current
airline, I was taken aback by a preflight
briefing statement regarding rejected
takeoffs. Captains typically brief the flight
crew on the criteria for which we would
abort the takeoff. The last one is usually
that we would abort if the airplane "is
unsafe or unable to fly." Unable to fly? I
thought. What could cause that? Well, any
number of things come to mind when you
really think of it.
On March 8, 2017, the captain of
Ameristar Charters Flight 9363 faced this
exact problem, according to the National
Transportation Safety Board's final report
on the accident. Upon the pilot monitoring's "rotate" call, the captain, who was
the flying pilot, attempted to rotate the
Boeing MD-83 and it did not respond to
yoke input. Upon sensing that the airplane
was not reacting as expected, the cap58 FLIGHT TRAINING DECEMBER 2019

tain rejected the takeoff despite the pilot
monitoring questioning that decision. It
was well after V1, after all. You don't reject
after V1, in general, because there won't
be enough runway to stop. The reject
was initiated 12 seconds after V1, and the
airplane overran Runway 23L at Willow
Run Airport in Ypsilanti, Michigan. The
airplane departed the paved surface at 100
knots and was significantly damaged, but
the 116 people evacuated safely with only
one minor injury.
The University of Michigan basketball
team was on board, which brought lots
of media attention. Despite breaking the
cardinal rule of rejecting the takeoff after
V1, it turns out the captain made the right
call. The airplane would not have taken
off, as its right elevator was jammed in the
trailing edge down position. If the takeoff
had continued, there's a good chance
nobody would have survived the highspeed runway excursion.
Unknown to the crew was that while
the airplane was parked at the airport for
a few days prior, freak wind conditions
eddying around a nearby hangar had so
impacted the unsecured, independently
movable elevators that the right one
became jammed in the full trailing-edge

http://www.AOPA.org/creditcard http://www.AOPA.org/creditcard

Flight Training - December 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Flight Training - December 2019