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Author Topic: US Air Flight 427- 9/8/94  (Read 27392 times)

Offline atcman23

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US Air Flight 427- 9/8/94
« on: September 08, 2009, 11:27:04 PM »
It's been 15 years since this accident but I figured if anyone was interested, the local Pittsburgh media outlets did mention it.  Here's one from KDKA"

http://kdka.com/local/flight.427.anniversary.2.1169714.html

I happen to know where this accident took place at and can only say that had this accident occurred just to the East of where it did, many lives on the ground would have been lost.



Offline joeyb747

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Re: US Air Flight 427- 9/8/94
« Reply #1 on: October 04, 2009, 10:29:04 AM »
I remember this one. B737...Uncommanded rudder deflection...If I remember correctly, the B737 had several issues with its rudder servos. I think two fatal crashes and several incidents. (United 585 (B737-291) crashed short of KCOS on 03-03-91 killing all on board.)

For anyone who may not be failure with this tragic crash:

http://www.airdisaster.com/cgi-bin/view_details.cgi?date=09081994&reg=N513AU&airline=USAir

The NTSB reprot is linked to at the bottom of the page, as well as a couple of photos and the CVR transcript.

United 585 linked below. Cause of the crash was Uncommanded Rudder Deflection:

http://www.airdisaster.com/cgi-bin/view_details.cgi?date=03031991&reg=N999UA&airline=United+Airlines

Be sure to read the special report at the bottom. Click the link, lots of good info...
« Last Edit: October 04, 2009, 10:33:51 AM by joeyb747 »

Offline atcman23

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Re: US Air Flight 427- 9/8/94
« Reply #2 on: October 04, 2009, 10:51:30 AM »
Yes United 585 occurred before US Air 427.  There was another event (can't remember the airline) near Charlotte, NC just after the US Air crash and they were successful in recovering the aircraft.  Basically, the primary rudder servo valve jammed in the full deflected position (without either pilot commanding full rudder deflection).  The "work around" was to cycle the servo valve breaker which reset the valve.  I believe that they also had a way of using the secondary valve, but I'm not a mechanic, either.  :wink:

Once this was discovered, Boeing replaced all servo valves on the B737 (all models up to that time) with a newly designed servo.  Since this took time to do (I think I remember hearing that most were retrofitted with the new servo by early 2000), pilots had to go through additional training on how to recover from this situation if it ever arose.  I do not recall any incidents in the U.S. after the third incident involving the B737.

Offline joeyb747

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Re: US Air Flight 427- 9/8/94
« Reply #3 on: October 04, 2009, 08:00:16 PM »
Eastwind Airlines Flight 517 (B737-2h5 N221US cn 20454/247)encountered the same issues on June 9, 1996, but was able to recover.

Here is the story:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastwind_Airlines_Flight_517

Pic of the airplane involved in the incident:

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Eastwind-Airlines/Boeing-737-2H5/0224040/L/&sid=a11a8799fc0310cd602365421ede9b6b

I always liked the colors of "The Bee Line"...

Here are some vids I found that link all of them together:

http://www.ntsb.gov/events/usair427/images.htm

On a side note: It was an Eastwind 737 that was first to report TWA 800 was down... :cry:
« Last Edit: October 04, 2009, 08:01:57 PM by joeyb747 »

Offline joeyb747

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Re: US Air Flight 427- 9/8/94
« Reply #4 on: October 04, 2009, 08:31:45 PM »
Here is some good info on the B737 rudder system:

http://www.b737.org.uk/rudder.htm

And an interesting article I found:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0UBT/is_39_14/ai_65483078/?tag=content;col1

Offline atcman23

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Re: US Air Flight 427- 9/8/94
« Reply #5 on: October 05, 2009, 09:24:54 AM »
Thanks for the links!  Got to love the old NTSB animations!

Offline joeyb747

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Re: US Air Flight 427- 9/8/94
« Reply #6 on: October 05, 2009, 07:57:54 PM »
You are welcome! I agree...gotta love the old school animation!  :wink:  8-)