A pilot who is credited with saving dozens of lives has died. United Flight 232 went into total hydraulic failure while Al Haynes was at the controls in 1989. With the help of three other pilots, he maneuvered the DC-10 to a miraculous crash landing in Sioux City, Iowa, and 184 of the 296 people on board survived.Captain Haynes was 87.
The cockpit voice recorder transcript is fascinating. The famous exchange with ATC:
My recollection of things is that every time they tried to replicate the flight of UA 232 in a simulator, they had an unsurvivable crash. Most of the attempts didn't get close to the airport. That anyone survived is a testament to the skill of Capt. Haynes and the other pilots in the cockpit.
Godspeed, Captain.
I worked for Frasca International during the time shortly after that incident. We had a DC-10 simulator that we took to trade shows. We set it up with the triple Hydraulic failure and all the other issues.... Lots of pilots tried to do the landing. None did as well as Captain Haynes. One guy tried 4 times.
ReplyDeleteMost wanted to shake his hand and buy him a drink after trying.
I'm told the reason for the inability to simulate is that the sims just don't model the phugoid oscillation mode, which was not thought to be of more than academic interest.
ReplyDeleteThat was quite the save.
ReplyDeleteDenny Fitch is still around - watch out, this will draw you in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8vdkTz0zqI
And having a Flight engineer surely made a difference.
ReplyDeleteThe Captain dead heading was able to jockey the power settings. Four heads are better than three.
ReplyDeleteAC2usn