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FAA orders airline to check 43 planesCrash victims' families to view site Friday
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (CNN) -- As the investigation continues into the deadly crash of an Air Midwest commuter flight, the Federal Aviation Administration late Thursday requested that the airline take "immediate action" to check flight control systems on 43 planes similar to the doomed plane. FAA spokesman Greg Martin would not elaborate on what that "immediate action" might entail, including whether the airline would ground the planes. The airline was told to make sure that pilots have "full control authority" over all "flight surfaces," including such items as elevators and flaps that control the aircraft. Richard Mintz, a spokesman for Mesa Air Group, the parent company of Air Midwest, said only three of the 43 planes were serviced at a West Virginia maintenance facility where repairs were made Monday on the plane that crashed. Those three planes will be inspected Thursday night and will not fly until the inspections are complete, he said. Mintz also said the airline, operating out of an "abundance of caution," would inspect the other 40 Beech 1900D aircraft in its fleet, as the FAA requested, even though "we do not have any specific information that the maintenance was faulty on these aircraft." Two days after Air Midwest Flight 5481 had maintenance performed at the West Virginia facility, the plane, en route to Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina, crashed at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, just 37 seconds after taking off. All 21 people on board were killed. The work involved the plane's elevator tab on the tail, which controls the upward and downward movement of the nose of the plane. But it is unclear what work actually took place. (Where and how) Although the National Transportation Safety Board said the airline told them a part was replaced, Mintz said the elevator tab was not replaced; rather, its cables were readjusted. John Goglia, leader of a 12-member NTSB investigative team, said some confusion may come from the fact the maintenance was done at a facility in Huntington, West Virginia, while maintenance records are in a long-term storage facility in Wichita, Kansas. Meanwhile, the flight data recorder recovered from the crash site showed that the plane was climbing at an abnormally steep angle prior to the crash, said Goglia. "Seven degrees is the normal takeoff pitch angle. Something occurred to drive that pitch angle to 52 degrees," said Goglia. "That is abnormal." Goglia said the flight data recorder from the crashed Beech 1900D contained 95 hours of data from 85 flights, including the one that crashed. (Aircraft details) That data will be transferred to hard copy Friday. Preliminary data raised concern about elevator movements during all eight of the flights the plane flew between Monday's maintenance and Wednesday's accident, Goglia said. The other 76 flights on the recorder before the maintenance show normal elevator movement, he said. Damaged cables and pulleys from the elevator system were recovered, Goglia said. He also said all doors and hatches were secured at the time of the crash. Except for the team members who will pack up the plane's engines and propellers to be shipped, Goglia said his team's work at the site would be completed Friday. He disputed reports that a worker who loaded Air Midwest Flight 5481, operating under the US Airways Express banner, thought it was too heavy -- but was overruled by a supervisor who cleared it for flight. Goglia said the plane was under its maximum weight and the discrepancy had to do with the number of bags listed on documents. Ramp handlers interviewed separately said the pilot made the final decision. However, he said pilots with a view of the plane told investigators it looked heavy while taxiing. Goglia said all baggage that survived the crash will be weighed. And he said distribution of weight on the aircraft will also be studied closely because it could affect the plane's center of gravity. Despite getting 34 minutes of cockpit conversation on the voice recorder, Goglia said investigators have not determined from the preliminary data which pilot was at the controls. 37 secondsFlight 5481 took off at 8:45 a.m. and was due at Greenville-Spartanburg Airport in South Carolina, 100 miles away, at 9:15 a.m. It originated in Lynchburg, Virginia, and took off into a clear, windy day. On board were two crew members and 19 passengers. The pilot reported an emergency shortly before the crash, and preliminary data indicate the turboprop was in the air for "37 seconds from takeoff to impact," Goglia said. It exploded in a ball of flame. (Witness comments) The FAA said a cockpit call to the air traffic control tower before the crash reported some kind of emergency, but it was cut off before controllers were able to get details. "The plane was unable to maintain altitude" on takeoff, and veered to the left as it flew 1,500 to 2,000 feet before clipping a hangar, causing an intense fire that was quickly extinguished, said airport spokesman Jerry Orr. (Final path of plane) Investigators said the last of the victims had been recovered. Past repairs
FAA records show the airplane had undergone repair. A leaky fuel pump was replaced last fall, and landing gear that would not retract had to be fixed in May. The plane was manufactured in 1996 and had clocked just more than 15,000 hours of flight time, Air Midwest said. Air Midwest, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mesa Air Group, is a regional carrier operating as US Airways Express, Frontier JetExpress, and America West Express. It has nearly 750 employees. The FAA also said it put out a maintenance alert to airlines in August about Beech 1900D aircraft in general, saying one mechanic had found a vertical stabilizer bolt that was loose. The alert informed airlines they should check the stabilizers on all such aircraft. Wednesday's crash was the fifth fatal mishap involving the Beech 1900D since the first models were built in 1991, according to the Aircraft Crash Record Office in Geneva. The most recent happened in August 1999 in Quebec, killing seven. The others were in January of that year in Hyannis, Massachusetts, in which nobody died; July 1998 in Vannes, France, in which 14 were killed; and December 2, 1995, in Port au Prince, Haiti, in which 20 died, an aviation official told CNN.
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