Famous pilot, Al Haynes, passes away

Pilot Al Haynes has passed away at the age of 87. The pilot became famous after an aircraft that he was flying crashed 30 years ago. It was the famous crash of flight UA232.

Flight UA232

Flight UA232 (a United Airlines flight) was travelling from Denver to Chicago in the United States on July 19^th, 1989. Approximately an hour after it departed a fan disk in the rear engine became detached which caused a lot of rubble. The aircraft became uncontrollable, but by adjusting the power in the different engines the pilots were able to keep a certain control over the aircraft. However, there efforts would only give the emergency services on the ground a little bit more time to prepare. Approximately 45 minutes after the problems began, the aircraft made an emergency landing under very difficult circumstances. The flaps were not working, and this led to the aircraft landing with too much speed. The aircraft eventually turned on to its side and broke into different pieces. In total 111 out of 296 passengers did not survive the crash. However, due to the wit and speed of the pilots more casualties were avoided.

After the crash

The accident formed a textbook example of applying the Crew Resource Management (CRM) system. For a long time, the culture within the cockpit was that the captain’s opinion and orders were always followed. This has led to multiple accidents that could possibly have been avoided with discussion. Haynes told the press later that he preferred the CRM approach, through which he consulted with his colleagues to a certain extent before taking a decision. After all, the captain said, in case of emergency he was not always convinced that he would be the one to now the solution to the problem at hand.