The co-pilot of the plane that crashed in Clarence Center last February used her cell phone in the cockpit to send two text messages prior to takeoff, possibly in violation of federal "sterile cockpit" rules that bar pilots from focusing on anything but the flight to which they are assigned.
Rebecca L. Shaw, the flight's first officer, sent those text messages after boarding the airplane in Newark, N.J., for the flight to Buffalo.
One was made at 7:58 p.m., apparently before the airplane began its ground taxi.
The second was at 9:13 p.m., five minutes before the plane took off.
A National Transportation Safety Board investigator reported the text messages in a document filed in preparation for the board's Tuesday meeting to consider its final report in the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407, which claimed 50 lives.
While the first officer's use of a cell phone before takeoff appears unrelated to the crash about an hour later, the revelation could serve as more evidence that the crew of Flight 3407 ignored federal rules aimed at preventing pilots from getting distracted during critical periods of the flight.
Federal rules regarding a sterile cockpit bar pilots from extraneous conversation and activities when the plane is taxiing and during the critical periods during and after takeoff and before landing. But the federal documents showing that the text messages were sent do not indicate clearly whether they were violations of a sterile cockpit.
"It is definitely inappropriate during the taxi period" for a pilot to be texting, said Mike Loftus, a former Continental pilot who lost his daughter, Maddie, in the crash. "Anything that is going to distract you from the job at hand is not a smart thing to do."
The sending of a text message while a plane was taxiing "would be in direct violation of applicable Federal Aviation Administration regulations, as well as company policy and training," said Joe F. Williams, spokesman for Pinnacle Airlines, which owns Colgan Air, the Continental subcontractor that operated Flight 3407.
"Colgan has zero tolerance for sterile cockpit violations," Williams added. "Our training programs reinforce compliance with standard operating procedures, of which sterile cockpit is a key element."
Colgan does not believe that it is common for its crews to use cell phones during the operation of a flight, Williams said.
A transcript of the cockpit voice recorder shows that Shaw and the plane's pilot, Capt. Marvin D. Renslow, talked about previous jobs, family issues and company policies while the airplane's brakes were set, when personal conversation is allowed.
But they continued talking while the airplane was in motion, inching along the taxiway toward departure.
"Does it show a little lapse of standard operating procedure? Yes. But is it egregious? I wouldn't characterize it that way," said John Cox, a former pilot who now heads Safety Operating Systems, a Washington aviation consultancy.
Cox said he anticipates that the safety board meeting will include consideration of why the pilots felt free to violate rules restricting extraneous cockpit conversation.
"I would expect that the board would look at cultural as well as individual violations of sterile cockpit — that they will look into the culture at Colgan, as well as the actions of the two individuals," he said.
Policies on crew use of cell phones vary by airline. Some require that pilots turn off their phones prior to beginning the first flight checklist, while others apply the same rule to both passengers and pilots: When the aircraft door is shut, phones get turned off.
In addition to violating sterile cockpit rules before takeoff, the crew chatted about personal matters after the plane descended to less than 10,000 feet as it approached Buffalo Niagara International Airport, breaking the federal rules again.
Those sterile cockpit violations are expected to be a matter of concern to safety board members at the meeting Tuesday, where it also will vote on safety recommendations stemming from the crash.
Only two weeks ago, the safety board implicated the distracting effect of cell phones when it determined that text-messaging by a commuter train engineer diverted his attention and led to the collision of two trains in Chatsworth, Calif., in September 2008. Twenty-five people were killed in that accident.
In one of her first acts as chairman of the safety board, Deborah A.P. Hersman ordered all board employees not to use cell phones for calls or text messages while driving. "Recent NTSB investigations have identified personal wireless technology use on the job," Hersman said. "This phenomenon is becoming more widespread and these phone calls, texts and other distractions have deadly consequences and must be addressed with all due haste by the transportation industry."
source
Labels: Miscellaneous
0 comments:
Post a Comment