NTSB Aviation Accident Report

I was fumbling around the internet and ran across the following report for a

WHEELS-UP LANDING
CONTINENTAL AIRLINES FLIGHT 1943
DOUGLAS DC-9 N10556
HOUSTON, TEXAS
FEBRUARY 19, 1996

I had never seen a full report before, and found it to be fascinating reading. And since no one was seriously hurt I don't feel bad posting the link.

I was amazed at the cause of the accident.

http://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/reports/1997/aar9701.pdf

Quote: RaleighCraps

I was fumbling around the internet and ran across the following report for a

WHEELS-UP LANDING
CONTINENTAL AIRLINES FLIGHT 1943
DOUGLAS DC-9 N10556
HOUSTON, TEXAS
FEBRUARY 19, 1996

I had never seen a full report before, and found it to be fascinating reading. And since no one was seriously hurt I don't feel bad posting the link.

I was amazed at the cause of the accident.

http://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/reports/1997/aar9701.pdf

Could you give us the executive summary? I don't really feel like digging through 101 pages...

If I read the report right........


I'm interested in hearing some of our flight experts. As I was reading the report, it occurred to me that they were probably very fortunate that the flight crew did not realize what was going on, and attempted to abort the landing with a fly around. With no flaps would they have been able to get enough lift and airspeed to climb again? I'm betting they would have climbed for a bit, stalled, and then augured in, with a much different outcome.

Quote: RaleighCraps

I'm interested in hearing some of our flight experts.

Not an expert, but...

Flaps generate lift, thereby decreasing the speed needed to get airborne. They also assist in slowing the aircraft down by way of drag. This allows takeoffs and landing to be shorter.

Since the thing was already flying, I can't see a reason they'd not be able to continue, unless they were in an area they needed to climb severely and/or quickly, or they didn't notice until the last 100' of the glide plane.

Granted, 100% of my "expertise" comes from flight sims (=p), but I never even use my flaps unless I'm coming in shot up or doing a carrier landing ;)

EDIT: Also, you can physically feel when flaps are deployed, they cause so much drag. No one on the flight crew caught this?

Quote: RaleighCraps

I was fumbling around the internet and ran across the following report for a

WHEELS-UP LANDING
CONTINENTAL AIRLINES FLIGHT 1943
DOUGLAS DC-9 N10556
HOUSTON, TEXAS
FEBRUARY 19, 1996

I had never seen a full report before, and found it to be fascinating reading. And since no one was seriously hurt I don't feel bad posting the link.

I was amazed at the cause of the accident.

http://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/reports/1997/aar9701.pdf

Other's could jump to page 50 for a quick review.

Not sure what your impetus was for posting this but I read most of it?

Not to make less of anyone else's suffering do to bad landings I will repeat what is often said by bush pilots in the great north in a cavalier fashion, and also having had the hell scared out of me more than once, "any landing you walk away from is a good one".

Quote: petroglyph

Other's could jump to page 50 for a quick review.

Not sure what your impetus was for posting this but I read most of it?

Not to make less of anyone else's suffering do to bad landings I will repeat what is often said by bush pilots in the great north in a cavalier fashion, and also having had the hell scared out of me more than once, "any landing you walk away from is a good one".

There is no secret agenda to posting this. I purely stumbled into the report, the title caught my interest, and then the insight into how the flight crew works during a landing intrigued me. And, as you said, 'any landing you walk away from is a good one'.
The fact that there were no injuries allowed me to create this thread. If there had been fatalities, I would not have even brought it forward.

Page 50 talks about the role pilot fatigue played in the accident. I was more interested in the physical aspect, as to what could have caused a wheels up landing. Forgetting to put the landing gear down did not seem to have any chance at being the reason, so what was the cause?

I remember an interview with Captain Scully when he landed the jet in the Hudson. He had intentionally left the landing gear retracted, and landed on the tail section, so that the plane had a better chance of surfing on top of the water.
Hmmmm, I wonder if there is an ntsb report on that accident on the web too....

EDIT: Wow. Google is awesome......

http://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/reports/2010/aar1003.pdf