Introduction
Eastern Flight 401 took off from John F. Kennedy airport in New York on 29th December 1972 headed to Miami at 1920 hours. Up to 1132 hours, the trip was routine until it started approaching Miami International Airport. Stockstill, First Officer, observed that a green illumination that indicates that the nose apparatus is correctly locked in place, failed to light up. A damaged bulb had led to this phenomenon. When the light assembly was removed, the plane suddenly started descending gradually and soon lost half of the necessary altitude. This was noticed too late; the plane flew into the ground taking away the lives of 101 passengers (Krause, 2003). Apart from technical faults, poor communication between the crew members, the captain’s failure to delegate his authority, and lack of crew training are to blame in the plane crash.
Concentration on the Minor Warning Indication
First of all, the greatest mistake of the crew was concentrating on the minor warning indication. When the pilot noticed that the landing gear indicator did not illuminate, every single member of the crew got involved with this problem. Thus, the fixation on a nose landing apparatus position signifying system fault diverted the crew’s concentration on the apparatus and permitted the decline to be unnoticed (American Scientific Affiliation, 2007). This points at the improper work of the crew.
Communication in the Cockpit
Moreover, much testifies to the fact that the crewmembers failed to adequately communicate in the cockpit. For instance, when the C-chord alarm sounded in the cockpit, none of the crew members commented on it and nothing has been done to counter the loss of altitude (Smith, 2001). This shows that communication in the cockpit was practically absent, that the crew resource management was not successful at a,ll and that the members of the crew were not sufficiently trained before the flight.
Captain’s Delegation of his Authority
Besides, the captain of the aircraft did not manage to delegate the authority effectively. The problem was in Captain Robert Loft’s loyalty to those times when the captain’s orders had to be obeyed implicitly. When Loft faced a problem, he did not ask his co-pilot to take the aircraft control; he tried to control the plane and remove the technical problems simultaneously, which he failed to do. According to the modern crew resource management training, the crew members should cooperate and constantly interact (Lesage, Dyar, & Evans, 2009). This was also a great mistake that contributed into the accident.
The Fault of Miami ATC
Nevertheless, it was not only the captain and the crew who are responsible for the accident. Mistakes have been made by the Miami ATC as well. When the flight crew has reported about the unsafe gear indication, the air traffic controllers had to check the landing gear; the reported to have failed to do this properly because of the poor lighting (the sun was already below the horizon). In result, no alert was given to the plane when it started losing altitude. Thus, Miami ATC should have given a sterner warning to the aircraft; perhaps, this could have helped to save more lives.
Conclusion
In sum, it was the crew’s poor communication, lack of training, and the captain’s ineffective delegation of authority that, together with technical problems, led to the plane crash. Eastern Flight 401 accident, however, had long-term effects on our training systems and methods. It has led to more efforts being directed at carrying out proper crew training aimed at making the communication between the crew members more effective and their response to the emergencies more appropriate. All this now leads to better crew resource management and safer flights.
References
American Scientific Affiliation. (2007). Perspectives on science and Christian faith: journal of the American Scientific Affiliation, Volumes 59-60. Blaine, Washington: The Affiliation.
Krause, S. S. (2003). Aircraft safety: Accident investigations, analyses, and applications. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional.
Lesage, P., Dyar, J.T., & Evans, B. (2009). Crew resource management: principles and practice. London: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Smith, D. R. (2001). Controlling pilot error: Controlled flight into terrain (CFIT). New York: McGraw-Hill Professional.