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Aviation History
1979
1979 - 0071.PDF
FLIGHT International, 13 January 1979 69 Air fransp it Fuel starvation blamed for Portland crash MULTIPLE flameout due to fuel starvation was almost certainly the immediate cause of the December 28 crash of a United Airlines DC-8-61 (N8082U) near Portland International Airport, Oregon. The National Trans portation Safety Board's investigation is now examining the human and sys tem factors which led to the crew's "apparent lack of knowledge" of the fuel state. The DC-8 crash-landed some 6-5 miles short of Portland's Runway 28L after a flight from New York. Ten of the 185 occupants were killed, includ ing the flight engineer and a member of the cabin crew, and about 50 were injured, including the captain and first officer. The flight continued normally until 1712hr Pacific Standard Time, when the crew extended the landing gear. No positive gear-down indication was obtained, and the crew requested per mission to hold while they attempted to solve the problem with the aavice of United ground staff. At about 1735hr the aircraft was cleared to follow a triangular course away from other traffic. At 1740hr the captain told the airline's maintenance base that there was about 7,0001b of fuel remaining. At 1820hr the crew indicated their intention of starting the approach "in 3-5 minutes" and said that they had "4,000, no, make it 3,000 pounds of fuel on board." Emergency services had already been requested in case of an undercarriage collapse, and the cabin and passengers were prepared for an emergency. Only at 1811hr and 18 n.m. from the runway end did the The Russians are coming! No fewer than five Antonov An-26s arrived at Gatwick Airport just before Christmas. Wearing Aeroflot colours, the aircraft were probably on a delivery flight to Cuba crew show any signs of anxiety about the fuel state, when they requested a distance check. Further distance checks were requested at 1812.42 (12 n.m.) and 1813.27 (8 n.m.), and the final Mayday call came 23sec later. The impact occurred at 1814hr. The NTSB has to discover how a professional airliner crew could have made such an error. In any event, the fuel state declared at 1802hr (3,000- 4,0001b) should have allowed the DC-8 to make a safe landing. All fuel gauges read close to zero at the time of impact, but all elements of the recovered system, including gauges and tank probes, are being bench- tested by the NTSB. (The tests may be carried out at the manufacturer's facilities, under the Safety Board's seal.) The NTSB is also asking all DC-8-60 operators to report any earlier instances of inaccurate fuel indications. US carriers seek China rights WORLD AIRWAYS and Trans Inter national Airlines have applied to the US Civil Aeronautics Board for scheduled routes to China, closely following a similar request from Pan Am (see Flight for December 30, page 2298). World has asked for authority to serve Peking, Shanghai and Canton as an extension of its recently awarded service to Hong Kong from Oakland and Los Angeles via Honolulu and Guam. The carrier also wants to serve the Orient on a route from Chicago and Newark (New York) via Anchorage, Seoul, Tokyo, Osaka, Peking, Shanghai, Canton, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur. Trans Inter national would like to add scheduled services to its passenger and cargo charters between the US and China. Pan Am is still waiting a CAB reply to its request for clearance to3 fly non-stop between the US west coast and China and for services from nine points across the US. The airline wanted exemption authority to start services on January 1, or as soon as possible thereafter, but regular links will probably have to wait until the question of a US-China air services agreement has been resolved. An air agreement has been in existence since 1946 but was transferred to Taiwan in 1949, following that state's break with the mainland. Three US carriers—Pan Am, TWA and Northwest Orient—are theoretically authorised to fly to the Peoples' Republic, although this was not possible while there were no high- level diplomatic links between the two countries. • Japan is currently negotiating with China over increased air services between the two countries. The Chinese want to increase the number of flights between China and Japan, currently four a week by both JAL and CAAC, to a daily service. The Japanese Government is however reluctant to allow this at present because of inadequate fuel supplies at Tokyo's Narita Airport. China wants increased frequencies because of the upsurge in passenger traffic, the result of stronger political and economic links between the two countries. For its part, Japan is looking to extend JAL services, which terminate in Peking, to the Middle East and Europe. Previous requests have been turred down on the grounds that militarily sensitive regions could not be overflown. Now the Japanese are hoping that China's need for routes to the US, possibly via Tokyo, has changed the negotiating climate.
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