[Rhodes22-list] One more for the Oops file

Tue Jun 14 06:12:01 EDT 2005

Remember what I said about things you don't want to
hear in the cockpit?  (airplane or boat)  This was
just published this morning but the speculation
correctly identified the problem a long time ago. 
Brad

URL:
http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/business/article/0,1426,MCA_440_3852852,00.html

Julie Smith/Associated Press

Pilots sought 'a little fun'
Flew to maximum altitude minutes before Pinnacle crash

By Leslie Miller
Associated Press
June 14, 2005

WASHINGTON -- Two pilots, in a jovial mood as they
flew an empty commuter jet, wanted to "have a little
fun" by taking the plane to an unusually high altitude
last October, only to realize as the engines failed
that they were not going to make it, according to
transcripts released Monday. 

The plane, which the two were ferrying for
Memphis-based Pinnacle Airlines from Arkansas to
Minnesota, crashed, killing Capt. Jesse Rhodes and
First Officer Peter Cesarz. Both were based in
Detroit. 

The cockpit voice recording, released by the National
Transportation Safety Board at the start of a
three-day hearing into the Oct. 14, 2004, accident,
revealed how the pilots cracked jokes and decided to
"have a little fun" and fly to 41,000 feet -- the
maximum altitude for their plane. Most commuter jets
fly at lower altitudes. 

"Man, we can do it, 41-it," said Cesarz at 9:48 p.m. A
minute later, Rhodes said, "40 thousand, baby." 

Two minutes later, "There's 41-0, my man," Cesarz
said. "Made it, man." 

At 9:52 p.m., one of the pilots popped a can of Pepsi
and they joked about drinking beer. A minute later,
Cesarz said, "This is the greatest thing, no way." 

But at 10:03 p.m., the pilots reported their engine
had failed. Five minutes later, they said both engines
had failed and they wanted a direct route to any
airport. 

The transcript recounts their increasingly desperate
efforts to restart the engines and regain altitude.
They tried to land at the Jefferson City, Mo., airport
but by 10:14 p.m., it was obvious they wouldn't reach
it. 

"We're not going to make it, man. We're not going to
make it," Cesarz said. The plane crashed in a
residential neighborhood of Jefferson City. No one was
injured on the ground. 

Accident investigators are examining how well the
pilots were trained -- a key safety question as the
number of regional jets keeps growing. 

The crash involved a Bombardier regional jet plane
operated by Pinnacle Airlines, an affiliate of
Northwest Airlines. Like many regional carriers,
Pinnacle is growing rapidly as it teams up with a
traditional network airline looking to offer more
seats to more places. 

Pinnacle grew by 700 percent in the past five years,
according to Phil Reed, its marketing vice president.
During that time, it switched its fleet from
propeller-driven planes to small turbojets, known as
regional jets, or RJs. 

The number of regional jets rose to 1,630 last year
from 570 in 2000, the Federal Aviation Administration
says. The question of whether government safety
inspectors can keep up with such rapid changes in the
airline industry was raised last week in a
Transportation Department inspector general's report. 

Jet engines work differently at higher altitudes, and
it's unclear whether the relatively inexperienced
Pinnacle pilots were aware that they had to be more
careful in the thin air at 41,000 feet, the maximum
altitude for their plane. 

According to FAA transcripts of air-to-ground
conversations, an air traffic controller in Kansas
City told the two pilots it was rare to see the plane
flying that high. 

"Yeah, we're actually ... we don't have any passengers
on board, so we decided to have a little fun and come
up here," one pilot said. The transcripts don't
identify whether Rhodes or Cesarz made the statement. 

First one, then the other engine shut down. The last
contact that controllers had with the crew was at
9,000 feet, when the pilot reported an airport beacon
in sight. 

At the hearing, NTSB investigators plan to delve into
the plane's flight limits and the proper recovery
techniques when engines fail. They also want to know
if the pilots knew those procedures and to learn the
engine's performance characteristics at high
altitudes. 

On June 2, the FAA issued a special bulletin
clarifying what steps pilots need to take to restart
an engine when there's a dual engine failure, agency
spokeswoman Laura Brown said. 

David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers
Association, said the issue may be reckless pilots
rather than inadequate training or improper recovery
procedures. 

"This is more a story of pilots having time on their
hands and playing with things in the cockpit that they
shouldn't," he said. 

Flying, he said, is as boring as truck driving most of
the time. 

"This was boredom and experimentation, these guys
experimenting with things they had no business doing,"
Stempler said. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Excerpts from pilots' recording 

Excerpts from conversations between Pinnacle Airlines
Capt. Jesse Rhodes and First Officer Peter Cesarz just
before they died in the crash of a Bombardier regional
jet on Oct. 14, 2004. Investigators say the crash
occurred after the pilots took the plane to 41,000
feet, an altitude where engine problems can develop. 

9:48:44 p.m. 

Cesarz: "Man, we can do it. Forty-one it." 

9:48:46 

Rhodes: "(Unintelligible) baby." 

9:48:57 

Cesarz: "Hundred and eighty knots, still cruising at
Mach point six four." 

9:51:51 

Cesarz: "There's four-one-oh, my man." 

9:51:53 

Cesarz: "Made it, man." 

9:54:19 

Rhodes: "Yeah, that's funny, we got up here, it won't
stay up here." 

9:54:22 

Cesarz: "Dude, it's (expletive) losing it." (Sound of
laughing) 

10:14:36 

Cesarz: "We're not gonna make it, man, we're not gonna
make it." 

10:14:38 

Rhodes: "Is there a road? Tell her we're not gonna
make this runway." 

10:14:46 

Rhodes: "Let's keep the gear up. (Expletive) I don't
want to go into houses here." 

10:14:51 

Cesarz: (Expletive) "road right there." 

10:14:52 

Rhodes: "Where?" 

10:14:52 

Cesarz: "Turn, turn..." 

10:14:53 

Rhodes: "Turn where?" 

10:14:53 

Cesarz: "Turn to your left, turn to your left." 

10:14:56 

Rhodes: Either: "I see it" or "I can't." 

10:14:58 

Warning signal in cockpit: "Too low, terrain,
terrain." 

10:14:59 

Rhodes: "Can't make it." 

10:15:03 

Rhodes: "Aw (expletive). We're gonna hit houses,
dude." 

Source: National Transportation Safety Board 

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