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Flight problems, not turbulence, found in death of former White House official

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The flight that left a former White House official dead earlier this month was marked by a series of missteps, alerts and system issues before the plane lurched violently in the sky, according to a preliminary report Friday from the National Transportation Safety Board. (link to NTSB report in story) (www.washingtonpost.com) Ещё...

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sweeper239
sweeper239 34
Why do you post links to the Washington post when you can't read them without a subscription. !
art1
Art Scheevel 1
copy and paste address of article to archive.is
skiddavid
David Skidmore 0
Apologies - it was supposed to be a free link-
bentwing60
bentwing60 12
"The plane then experienced violent, uncontrolled movements, speeding up and down and putting passengers under the dramatic stress of more than four times the force of gravity, according to the preliminary report.

Typed in CL-60's and they have a tracing g-meter in all that I am aware of. 4G's + is well above the certification load factor limit of 3.2g's and below the ultimate LF limit of 1.5 times cert. limit. Glad I wasn't there and I bet it was a wild ride for the seemingly not so aware or safety conscious flight crew! Bombardier flying machines are not simple tic-tac-toe disciplines to learn even at the top of your game.

[This comment has been downvoted. Show anyway.]

n555cf
rbt schaffer 9
I used to keep my hand on the wheel every time I touched the auto switch... Sometimes that servo is holding a lot of stick pressure you are unaware of... Flew a fighter jet simulator once with a wacky trim switch and it was like wrestling a bear.
nlgibson
nancy gibson -2
Whoa!! A pilot who wrestled a bear!
n555cf
rbt schaffer 6
Yeah Nancy, ever had to use both hands on the stick?
sparkie624
sparkie624 37
Pay Wall... Washington post will never see any bucks from me! Here is a better version: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/25/white-house-official-flight-death-turbulence
Rixflight
Rick Hoffman 1
Nightly
Nurlan Tahirli 0
What is wrong with the Washington Post article? I read it for free and I would say it better described the story with more details than the Guardian.
sweeper239
sweeper239 6
You must have a different computer than everyone else! you can never access these Washington post articles

feote
Ken Jackson -7
WaPo articles are universally available unless one is unwilling to actually pay for the services/products demanded. Some folks just want a dree lunch. Phooey!
marcusangelus
Mark Jenkins 16
Newspapers used to make their money from static advertisements on their pages. Now the newspapers (or their advertising "partners") want to ID everyone reading them online so that they can track their pattern of Internet usage all over the network and build a profile on them that is then sold to advertisers and others.

I don't mind paying for a newspaper and I don't mind seeing ads while reading online, but I don't want to have all of my online activity tracked. If newspapers would bring back static advertisements that they serve up from their own servers instead of using the reader-tracking technologies that they do, perhaps there would be a more balanced online environment.

[This comment has been downvoted. Show anyway.]

DRN2001
Dan Nelson 2
WA Post is a gutter rag not fit to wrap fish in…second only to The NY Times.
skiddavid
David Skidmore 8
Report of an extremely similar incident in 2010, with "porpoising" of the aircraft resulting in injuries: https://skybrary.aero/sites/default/files/bookshelf/2391.pdf
cmuncy
Chris Muncy 11
Free link: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/25/white-house-official-flight-death-turbulence
sweeper239
sweeper239 2
rororo69
roman sawycky 19
link leading to the full article requires registration/login on washingtonpost. FLightaware ought to offer full article to it's members.
pthompso99
Paula Thompson 1
Yes, i run into this at several sites I (otherwise) like.
AirplaneC
C J -1
FlightAware should offer an article that it didn't write or own the rights to for free? You can't be serious...
tnbriggs
Terry Briggs 5
I read the NTSB preliminary report. Looks like the pilots weren't up to the task that day. Sad that a paying customer died as a result.
gaskaggs
Gary Skaggs 4
Did bother with formatting. Pretty certain all the words are here in the correct order...GS

The flight that left a former White House official dead earlier this month was marked by multiple missteps, alerts and system issues before the plane lurched violently in the sky, according to a preliminary report Friday from the National Transportation Safety Board.

The Federal Aviation Administration and NTSB initially described the incident as a turbulence event, with the safety board saying it also was investigating a reported issue with a flight control system. According to the new report, pilots said there was no remarkable turbulence during the flight, including around the time the plane lost control.

Instead, the report says, a key probe affixed to the outside of the plane was initially left covered, a takeoff was aborted, and pilots received a string of alerts on the ground and in the air before switching off a key flight control system immediately before the deadly incident.

The plane departed March 3 from New Hampshire, headed for Leesburg Executive Airport in Virginia. It was carrying Dana Hyde, 55, of Cabin John, Md., her husband, Jonathan Chambers, and one of their sons as the family was returning from a trip to visit schools in New England. Hyde worked in the Clinton and Obama White Houses and was counsel on the 9/11 Commission, which investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Investigators said the pilots on the Bombardier Challenger 300 began their takeoff with a critical speed-measurement probe mistakenly still covered. When two airspeed indicators showed different readings, the pilots aborted the takeoff. The second-in-command pilot then walked to the front of the plane, removed the red cover and returned to the cockpit, according to the NTSB.

As the chief pilot restarted the left engine and prepared to take off again, an alerting system noted a “RUDDER LIMITER FAULT,” the NTSB report said. The chief pilot told investigators he tried two tests to clear the message. When that was unsuccessful, the pilots continued with the flight, “given that the message was an advisory, and not a caution or warning,” the report said.

Just how dangerous is turbulence?

During takeoff, the second-in-command noticed that key speed-related parameters were not set, requiring him to call one out from memory, the NTSB said. The plane continued climbing to about 6,000 feet, investigators said, when a barrage of additional alerts emerged.

Among the alerts was one for an autopilot stabilizer trim failure. Trim generally refers to a flight control system that makes it easier for the pilot to maintain the airplane’s flight path. Another caution indicated the autopilot was “HOLDING NOSE DOWN,” according to the NTSB.

The pilots consulted a checklist on how to address the problems, then turned the stabilizer trim switch off. “As soon as the switch position was moved, the airplane abruptly pitched up,” according to the NTSB.

The plane then experienced violent, uncontrolled movements, speeding up and down and putting passengers under the dramatic stress of more than four times the force of gravity, according to the preliminary report.

“Four G’s. That’s four times your body weight. Objects that were 100 pounds were now weighing 400 pounds, and moving in an up or down direction,” said Jeff Guzzetti, a former accident investigator with the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board. “That’s a tremendous amount of G force for an airplane to experience.”

According to the NTSB, the head pilot said that when the plane first pitched up, his “left hand was on the flight controls and his right hand was guarding the right side of the flight controls.” The pilot immediately used both hands to regain control of the plane “in what he estimated to be a few seconds after the airplane’s pitch oscillated up and down.”

The NTSB said the pilots were employed by Executive Flight Services, which also managed the aircraft. The pilot in command and second-in-command had each accumulated thousands of hours of flight time overall, with 88 hours and 78 hours, respectively, in the make and model jet in this incident, the NTSB said. Executive Flight Services did not respond to a request for comment. The FAA declined to immediately release records related to the firm.

Chambers said in an email earlier this month to employees and clients of rural broadband consulting firm Conexon, where he is a partner, that “the plane suddenly convulsed in a manner that violently threw the three of us. My wife was badly injured.”

The plane made an emergency landing in Connecticut. Hyde was taken to a hospital but died of her injuries. The aircraft is owned by Conexon, which is based in Kansas City, Mo. The company and Chambers declined to comment on the NTSB’s preliminary findings.

Thomas H. Kean and Lee H. Hamilton, the former chairs of the 9/11 Commission, remembered Hyde — from the earliest days of the investigation until work was completed 20 months later — as “everything anyone would want in a colleague.”

“Her expertise in her field and the diligence with which she pursued her work helped answer many vital questions and greatly enhanced the security of the American people,” they wrote, offering condolences “to her family and all she leaves behind.”

Hyde was born in rural eastern Oregon, according to her husband. She was a senior adviser at the State Department during the Obama administration before becoming an associate director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. Hyde had a long-standing focus on international development and poverty issues during her years in Washington.

“Dana was the best person I ever knew. She was a wonderful mother to our boys and she was accomplished professionally,” Chambers wrote to colleagues earlier this month. “She loved and was beloved.”

Shane Harris and Cate Brown contributed to this report.
wmarvel
woody marvel 2
skiddavid
David Skidmore 6
The NTSB report shows PIC and SIC both had many thousands of flight hours but each of them had under 100 hours in the accident aircraft, at 88 and 78 hours respectively. I'm not a pilot nor in aviation. Are those numbers low? Would there be any expectation that at least one of them would have more hours flying the aircraft in question than that? Report says both earned PIC rating in that aircraft in Oct 2022. Would they both be considered "rookies" in this plane?
sparkie624
sparkie624 1
Those hours are low... but still legal...

[This comment has been downvoted. Show anyway.]

KatzyBaby
KatzyBaby 3
https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23722207/report_era23la135_106816_3_24_2023-10_09_31-am.pdf has this report in full without a paywall. Both Washington Post and NY Times require subscriptions. Can't even see a summary. Apparently, they have news only for those who choose to pay for it. Google also has other links.
DRN2001
Dan Nelson 3
WA Post is a gutter rag not fit to wrap fish in.
dmboss1021
Dan Boss 3
Well for a reasoned and thoughtful analysis see Blancolirio's post:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc_71HNJZhU (NTSB Preliminary N300ER Challenger 300 Dana Hyde)

It was not turbulence, but appears to be pilot error resulting in a series of abrupt pitch up/down moves, with +4.2 g and -2.3 g accelerations. The pitch up/down could easily snap the neck of someone, even if seatbelt was on. (basal skull fracture like Dale Earnhart)
mbrews
mbrews 2
thanks for the link. Yes, Juan Brown aka youtube blancolirio has the most insightful and trustworthy accounts of aviation incidents.
htummond
htummond 2
The first sign of thing’s going wrong was when they aborted the takeoff to remove the pitot cover. Clearly they didn’t have a clue about the aircraft. I worked 20years avionics and electrical on the CRJ-200/700/900 aircraft. After two failed attempts to engage the auto pilot with master caution they should have flown the aircraft manually or returned to the departure airport.
skiddavid
David Skidmore 2
Again, not a pilot nor in aviation, but could the crew have caused this by referring to the wrong checklist for the cautions being shown? Specifically, it seems they looked up PRI STAB TRIM FAIL and executed that list, rather than AP STAB TRIM FAIL, which was the actual caution message? This is from the preliminary report:

The flight crew reported that around 6,000 ft, they observed multiple EICAS caution messages. The crew recalled EICAS messages of ‘AP STAB TRIM FAIL’ [autopilot stabilizer trim failure] ‘MACH TRIM FAIL’ and ‘AP HOLDING NOSE DOWN’. Neither crewmember could recall exactly what order the EICAS messages were presented. They also reported that additional EICAS messages may have been annunciated. The PIC asked the SIC to refer to the quick reference handbook. The SIC, via an electronic flight bag (iPad), located the quick reference card and the ‘PRI STAB TRIM FAIL’ [Primary Stabilizer Trim Failure] checklist. The SIC visually showed the PIC the checklist, and they both agreed to execute the checklist. The first action on the checklist was to move the stabilizer trim switch (‘STAB TRIM’), located on the center console, from ‘PRI’ (Primary) to ‘OFF.’ The SIC read the checklist item aloud and he subsequently moved the switch to off. As soon as the switch position was moved, the airplane abruptly pitched up.
mbrews
mbrews 3
Challenger 300 BOMBARDIER INC BD-100-1A10 Regis. N300ER

The preliminary report for accident ERA23LA135 is on NTSB website. ( The WaPo article links to that NTSB report ).
darjr26
darjr26 2
I don’t know how you pull 4Gs in a corporate type aircraft but if they did I don’t know how the tail didn’t come off.
KatzyBaby
KatzyBaby 1
https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23722207/report_era23la135_106816_3_24_2023-10_09_31-am.pdf has this report in full without a paywall. Both Washington Post and NY Times require subscriptions. Can't even see a summary. Apparently, they have news only for those who choose to pay for it.
xpda
Robert Webster 1
Trim runaway is an emergency procedure practiced in recurrent PC12 training. We used to joke about how that would never happen...

DRN2001
Dan Nelson 1
Had it happen in a King Air - pretty exciting LOL!
htummond
htummond 1
By the way the NTSB Preliminary Report is the most authoritative here is the link.
ERA23LA135
BobGillettr
Robert Gillette 0
Some of you may have partisan political issues with the Washington
Post, but it is not a left-wing propaganda sheet any more than the Wall Street Journal is a right-wing propaganda sheet. I read and appreciate both for their solid, fact-based journalism.
wd73383
WD Rseven -3
To bad it was published in a garbage paper
cordery
Alan Cordery 0
Nooge
Nooge -2
Yeah did you hear they are going to trial for purposefully knowingly lying to their readers

Its all in writing you know

Stop the Squal already he lost and Tippy Toe Tucker and Lynnzee knew it
Nooge
Nooge -3
Yeah did you hear they are going to trial for purposefully knowingly lying to their readers

Its all in writing you know

Stop the Squeal already he lost and Tippy Toe Tucker and Lynnzee knew it
jrgp1
Jose R Gonzalez -9
This article appears on a leftist propaganda paper. They require a subscription and I will not subscribe to this type of propaganda.
KatzyBaby
KatzyBaby 0
At least they didn't say it was a 'woke' airplane.
OneAdamTwelve
Adam Altman -3
I have a bigger question that the operation of the aircraft... Why is it that someone who works (or used to work) at the White House using a plane that is partially owned by her husband? If her husband is part owner and the government has a contract to fly White House staff members... does that violate any laws?
jftaylor
Jay Taylor 8
I don't think the passenger was still an employee of the White House.
pepper378
pepper378 7
Preliminary NTSB report says this was a personal, Part 91, non-revenue flight. So not under contract, at least for the accident flight.
rcarlp3
RC Paschall 7
She was a FORMER U.S. government non-career appointee, not a current employee. The plane was owned by her husband's company - which is not an aviation serving or charter air company. The U.S. government was not paying for the plane / flight. There is zero conflict of interest or legal issue. Even if she was a CURRENT White House employee, if she was on personal travel (which this was, per reporting) there would be no legal violation.

[This comment has been downvoted. Show anyway.]

rcarlp3
RC Paschall 2
Incorrect. There is zero conflict of interest because at the time of this incident / her death she was not a government employee; the plane wasn't under contract to the USG; the plane was owned by her husband's company. This is all in the various news reports that are out there. If you still think there is a conflict of interest, can you explain how?
DRotten
D Rotten -5
This happened (them landing) in my state. And was written about, on the Patch, several times. Yet, in the comments to all of those articles (on Patch), I have still yet to see anyone STATE THE OBVIOUS.....the 'Clinton Body Count'!! But, no; NO ONE QUESTIONS ANYTHING! They are told a 'story' and accept it.....hook, line and sinker!
Nooge
Nooge -7
.the 'stop the squeal Count'!! But, no; NO ONE QUESTIONS ANYTHING!

Tucker Lou Shawn and Maria are told a 'story' and he under old under educated low IQ viewers accept it.....hook, line and sinker!

ByeDon lost !!! Trump will be reinstated
kenbadger1
Ken Riehl 0
Should read flight control system related issues contributed to passengers death…

[This comment has been downvoted. Show anyway.]

DavidInThailand
David Folkard 12
Aren't you also going to mention flying over a flat earth risks you hitting the glass ceiling?
KNO1
Kenn Ortmann 0
I think it is sad and discouraging that there are people who actually believe something like this. I can't imagine what it would be like going through life with a mindset that always imagines fantasies like this.
kfs1967
Kent Simons 0
I'm hoping Mr Rotten is firing for effect only to have fun. Otherwise scary.
williamscottrobertson
William Robertson -1
Eerily similar to Loretta Fuddy demise. The comments on this video should clue you in. https://youtu.be/kjs7hF3BoIk
AirplaneC
C J 2
In no way are they similar other than they involved airplanes. Good try though. The desperate attempts to create conspiracy theories on this board is hilariously sad.

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