B-17 Crash Flying Fortress NTSB Docket Summary Bradley Field Oct 2 2019 - TakingOff Ep 117

you're in a b17 flying fortress you've got four engines and you take off number four engine almost immediately starts backfiring and the captain shuts it down then you turn back to the airport and the engine next to it stops and you've already dropped your gear you can't maintain altitude you hit the approach lights impact the ground and slide into a storage tank out of 13 people aboard seven are now dead including the captain talking about the b-17 crash in connecticut on october 2nd 2019 on this episode taking off hi i'm dan milliken and this is the second time i'm recording this a summary of the ntsb docket on the tragic crash of a 1944 b-17 flying fortress in connecticut on october 2nd 2019 you see i love the old warbirds and my two favorite planes in the world are the f4u corsair and the b17 flying fortress i shot this report for you and started pulling b-roll for it as i sat down to edit and then i remembered i had some footage of my cessna 210 sitting next to a b17 i went through my library sure enough found it and zoomed in it's the same b17 that i just talked about crashing about six months after shooting my footage on the ramp in oklahoma i know it really shouldn't change anything but it did and i threw away my first stand up and so here i am why the change well my first focus what i pulled from the ntsb docket was the need for training and then after shooting i went through some more of the information and i talked to someone who knew the crew and while training is crucial and we don't have enough of it i pulled some other things that'll make me a better pilot and a better person here's a quick rundown on what we're talking about a b-17 world war ii bomber that was built in 1944 had been used for years to give what are called living history flight experience to people all over the country it was run by the collings foundation and it would cross the country giving several rides each day at different locations on this october 2nd it gave its final short ride after taking off the b-17 experienced engine trouble and tried to return to the airport crashing short of the runway the pilot was ernest mack mccauley he was 75 years old and no one on the planet had more time flying a b-17 than mac he was kind of guy if you knew him and he was visiting your city you would connect and go grab some dinner and trade stories and i say this because after reading through the ntsb docket i got a feeling they're going to point some fingers his way and we'll touch on that in a moment and maybe deservedly so and more fingers will undoubtedly be pointed towards the callings foundation reading the transcripts the testimonies are certainly throwing the foundation under the bus and maybe that's fair we'll get to their role in a moment as well to understand let's dive in on that morning pre-flight was done and passengers loaded and when mack went to start the engines he starts with number three and it wouldn't start a mechanic with a pressurized bottle of nitrogen went out and blew out the mags that's removing the moisture and then the engine started he moved to number four which also wouldn't start so they had to shut down number three blow out the mags for number four and then both three and four were started and then the others they did a standard run up to check the engines according to the surviving crew member load master and flight engineer mitch melton and he said the run-up was fine no anomalies or was there a run-up survivor testimonies record they never heard the engines revved up for a run-up so we have some conflict and reports there melton was the liaison for the passengers he positioned them about the plane and then went to the flight deck and as soon as the wheels left the pavement he left the flight deck to make sure the passengers knew they could move about yes on american airlines or united flight you have to remain seated for a much longer time because in the regulations the airlines fly under part 121 seat belts have to stay on below 10 000 feet but this flight was flying under part 91 rules which are the same for my cessna 210 and as soon as the airplane is in flight my passengers can unbuckle and the reason is that the flight is short and the foundation wants the passengers to have the most time they can to walk around the plane in flight and check out all the positions so the plane takes off and immediately melts and moves out of the flight deck to let the passengers know they can move within two minutes engine number four starts running rough to give you an idea of how fast everything happens the plane started its role at 46 minutes past the hour and 15 seconds three minutes after starting the roll the b-17 requests immediate return so the engine had already become a problem and four minutes later it's all over about seven minutes start to finish and what happened one passenger reported hearing backfiring coming from the engine on the right side melton says he returned to the flight deck to find mack wanting to shut down engine number four melton testifies that mack immediately caged it and that's feathering and shutting down the rough running engine without waiting for an agreement from the co-pilot now melton says he voiced it wasn't ready and then he left the flight deck to tell everyone to return to their seats and buckle in meanwhile the b-17 tells air traffic control they're having a rough mag a t responds with the question do you need assistance which the response from the b-17 was no they did not declare an emergency it was at this point mack turned back towards the airport he never got higher than 600 feet above the ground the entire short flight so a rough running engine 4 was shut down gear was dropped and at some point then engine 3 quit we know this because blades were not turning at impact the other two engines one and two were firewalled mack had his hands full now he was losing altitude and this low he was running out of options the plane clipped the landing lights and a couple of passengers in the back saw the orange plastic fly by moments later impact with the ground at first one survivor thought it was going to be okay and then the plane swerved hard right and into the de-icing tank broke apart fire the passenger in the rear was a command sergeant major and he and buddy had bought a ticket because of a love of the old warbirds fortunately he knew how to operate the old military seat belts and knew how to open the back hatch no one had briefed them on even how to work the seat belts let alone emergency exits but the command sergeant major was able to get out and his buddy and in trying to get back in the heat was too much as the third person rolled out on fire they were able to distinguish the flames of the passenger who suffered some burns up in the front melton momentarily blacked out on impact and came too with his arm stuck to some metal he pulled himself off and egressed out of a hatch the two forward most passengers didn't see where he went but saw an opening behind the co-pilot and escaped onto the de-icing tank by the way there is conflicting testimony about this melton says the two followed him out while the two passengers stated they never saw him and those were the only survivors and without the command sergeant major in the back there probably would have been three less survivors one of the survivors testified that out of all the times they had heard the airline passenger safety briefing the one time it would have really been useful they got nothing the faa suspended the exemption of the collings foundation to fly passengers and as you can imagine things are a mess and here's where i want to depart a little from the training focus from my now deleted first about this mac was the most qualified pilot on the planet to fly this plane yes there were check rides and everything was marked satisfactory for him but us pilots know check rides are not training in fact training is not supposed to occur on check rides and there's no doubt better training might have led to a different outcome in this situation but as the people will start to gather after reading the ntsb docket and sharpen their knives for mac and the collings foundation there's something else i'm really worried about with this accident when i got the privilege to climb up inside this b17 it was nothing short of amazing this was indeed living history to actually ride in it flying would have been an incredible memory and the other warbirds that can give us the chance the privilege to experience history in this way is an incredibly important thing something i hope we don't need your toss into the trash the horrible crash wasn't one thing it wasn't one engine failure it wasn't that the pilots didn't wear shoulder harnesses it was many things it was what looked like two engine failures on the same side it was delaying a little before turning back to the airport it was lowering the gear early which increased the drag and they lost precious altitude it was a lack of safety briefing for the passengers many many things here i hate to see more regulation and legislation strangling history away from us i'm hoping that those who operate living history flights will not only have better procedures but actually implement and follow them instead of government mandating a bunch of rules i want the aviation community to police themselves crm crew or cockpit resource management while mandatory for the airlines isn't for these type of flights but that program was developed from the blood of thousands we'd be foolish not to implement that in these flights for the family and friends of those taken too early from them by this tragedy my heart goes out and we need to do better we need to have better policies and procedures in place that will prevent this from happening again to the little kids i saw on the ramp that day running from plane to plane looking big-eyed at the b-17 and the mustang and the mitchell i hope this opportunity to experience history will not be lost for you and to the callings foundation i appreciate how you endeavored to bring history to the people and i hope you're able to resume that at some point i ask that you make it as safe as possible for the people you are sharing this incredible history with and for the others sharing this aviation history for people i pray that you can continue without being too heavily burdened by the bureaucracy that comes from this that you don't park the planes and dusty hangers for us to slowly forget other things to take away that can make me a better pilot and a better person well don't be hesitant or afraid to declare an emergency had the crew declared when they shut down engine number four the emergency vehicles would have had a four minute head start minutes that mattered for me i need to continue to up my safety game i can do more i can train better train smarter i pre-brief take-offs now go through emergency procedures but when was the last time i practiced a rejected takeoff or an emergency landing i can tell you my last practice of an emergency landing was on my cfi check ride a year and a half ago for me personally that's not good enough so that's on me and what i take away what about you are your procedures in place do your passengers know how to get out of a plane in an emergency do you regularly train so that will be muscle memory in an emergency and your brain can focus on the more important things let me know in the comments below and for non-pilots training is just as important of course at work but think about any emergency you might encounter are you ready for that what if you have a vehicle breakdown do you have important items in your car that can help you what if a natural disaster hits your area are you trained and ready for that walking to your car at night in the parking lot are you trained to handle someone attacking you what you don't think that's a real possibility these days or do you just have your phone stuck to your ear as you reach for your keys totally unaware of what's going on just some things to think about superior judgment trumps superior skills but you still need to train those skills we'll see you later [Music] you

Channel: Taking Off

Views: 64,645

Keywords: B-17, B-17 crash, b17 crash, nine o nine, nine o nine crash, nine o nine crash video, ntsb docket, ntsb b17, ntsb b17 crash, plane crash, plane crash investigation, aviation news, flying, general aviation, mac mccauley, mitch melton, dan millican, sfilms, takingoff, in the hangar, collings foundation, b-17 flying fortress, collings foundation b-17 crash, nine o nine b 17 crash, general aviation crash investigation, b-17 crash atc, b-17 crash connecticut video

Id: 1f01HJGvHnQ

Length: 12min 54sec (774 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 12 2020