Air Crash Investigations Pilot Error Kills 50 People In Buffalo The Crash Of Colgan Air Flight 3407

On February 12, 2009, about 2217 eastern standard time, Colgan Air, Flight 3407, a Bombardier DHC-8-400, on approach to Buffalo-Niagara International Airport, crashed into a residence in Clarence Center, New York, 5 nautical miles northeast of the airport. The 2 pilots, 2 flight attendants, and 45 passengers aboard the airplane were killed, one person on the ground was killed, and the airplane was destroyed. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable cause of this accident was a pilot's error.

On 25 January 2010, at 00:41:30 UTC, Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 409, a Boeing 737-800, on its way from Beirut to Addis Abeba, crashed just after take-off from Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, into the Mediterranean Sea about 5 NM South West of Beirut International Airport. All 90 persons on board were killed in the accident. The investigation concluded that the probable causes of the accident were pilot errors due to loss of situational awareness. Ethiopian Airlines refutes this conclusion. Other factors that could have lead to probable causes are the increased workload and stress levels that have most likely led to the captain reaching a situation of loss of situational awareness similar to a subtle incapacitation and the F/O failure to recognize it or to intervene accordingly. Ethiopian Airlines refutes the investigation. According to the airline the final report was biased, lacking evidence, incomplete and did not present the full account of the accident.

On April 15, 2002, Air China flight 129, a Boeing 767-200ER, operated by Air China, en route from Beijing, China to Busan, Korea, crashed on Mt. Dotdae, near Gimhae Airport, Busan. Of the 166 persons on board, 37 persons survived the crash, while 129 occupants were killed. The Korean Aviation Accident Investigation Board (KAAIB) determined that the probable cause of the crash was pilot error due to poor crew resource management and lost situational awareness during the circling approach of the runway. The Chinese investigation team pointed out that the Korean ATC was not fully licensed and mistakenly directed the airliner to descend to a wrong altitude and that the airport did not inform the crew of the weather conditions at the time. A contributing factor was that the airline made all announcements in Chinese and English, while most passengers were Korean.

On 25 December 2003, Union des Transport A riens de Guin e Flight GIH 141, a Boeing 727-223, on a flight from Conakry (Guinea) to Kufra (Libya), Beirut (Lebanon) and Dubai (United Arab Emirates) stopped over at Cotonou, Republic of Benin. During takeoff the overloaded airplane, was not able to climb properly and struck an airport building on the extended runway centerline, and crashed onto the beach and ended up in the ocean, killing 151 of the 163 people on board. The cause of the accident was the difficulty for the flight crew to rotate with an overloaded airplane with an unknown center of gravity. This in combination with the facts that the operator of the airline lacked any competence regarding organization and regulatory documentation, which made it impossible to correctly load and check the loading of the airplane, and the inadequacy of the supervision exercised by the Guinean civil aviation authorities in the context of safety oversight.

During the night of 04th May 2007, the B737-800, registration 5Y-KYA, operated by Kenya Airways as flight KQA 507 from Abidjan international airport (C te d'Ivoire), to the Jomo Kenyatta airport Nairobi (Kenya), made a scheduled stop-over at the Douala international airport (Cameroon). The weather was stormy. A number of departing planes decided to wait for the weather to improve. Kenya Airways, however, decided to depart. Shortly after take-off at about 1000 ft, the aircraft entered into a slow right roll that increased continuously and eventually ended up in a spiral dive. On the 5th May 2007 at approximately 0008 hrs, the airplane crashed in a mangrove swamp South-South/East of Douala. All 114 people on board were killed and the airplane was completely destroyed. The airplane crashed after loss of control by the crew as a result of spatial disorientation, after a long slow roll, during which no instrument scanning was done, and in the absence of external visual references in a dark night.

On 20 August 2008, Spanair flight JKK5022, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82 departed Madrid Barajas Airport on its way to Gran Canaria Airport.During take-off the aircraft crashed, due to pilot errors, near the end of runway 36L, killing 154 of the 172 people on board.

On July 17, 1996, about 2031 eastern daylight time, Trans World Airlines, Inc. (TWA) flight 800, a Boeing 747, crashed in the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York. TWA flight 800 was a scheduled international passenger flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), New York, New York, to Charles DeGaulle International Airport, Paris, France. All 230 people on board were killed, and the airplane was destroyed. The weather was good. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the accident was an explosion of the center wing fuel tank, resulting from ignition of the flammable fuel/air mixture in the tank. Contributing factors to the accident were the design and certification concept that fuel tank explosions could be prevented solely by precluding all ignition sources and the design and certification of the Boeing 747. The safety issues in this report focus on fuel tank flammability.

On 31 May 2009, the Airbus A330 flight AF 447 took off from Rio de Janeiro Gale o airport bound for Paris Charles de Gaulle. At around 2 h 02, the Captain left the cockpit for a short nap. At around 2 h 08, at flight level 350, the crew made a course change of 12 degrees to the left, to avoid bad weather. At 2h 10min 05, likely following the obstruction of the Pitot probes by ice crystals, the speed indications were incorrect and some automatic systems disconnected. The aeroplane's flight path was not controlled by the two copilots. They were rejoined 1 minute 30 later by the Captain, while the aeroplane was in a stall situation that lasted until the impact with the sea at 2 h 14 min 28 s, killing all 228 persons on board. It took almost two years to recover the wreck of the aircraft from a depth of 4.000 metres. The accident resulted from a succession of events, such as inconsistency between the measured airspeeds, inappropriate control inputs, and the crew's failure to diagnose the stall situation