Investigators say miscommunication between pilots caused United plane to drop near ocean's surface
Federal investigators say that miscommunication between pilots led to a United Airlines plane diving within 748 feet of the ocean’s surface shortly after takeoff from Hawaii in December
Federal investigators said Thursday that miscommunication between pilots led to a United Airlines jet diving within 748 feet (228 meters) of the ocean’s surface shortly after takeoff from Hawaii in December.
The National Transportation Safety Board said in a final report that the crew failed to manage the plane's vertical path, airspeed and nose direction after the mix-up between the captain and co-pilot.
After a normal takeoff during heavy rain at Kahului Airport on the island of Maui, the captain asked the co-pilot, or first officer, to reset the wing flaps, but the co-pilot heard “15” instead of “five," according to the NTSB.
Soon the pilots realized that the plane was pitched downward and accelerating.
“At this point I knew the captain was having difficulty with airspeed control… I couldn’t be certain what the captain was dealing with," the co-pilot later told investigators.
The plane's nose continued to pitch down, and the co-pilot saw through the windshield that they were breaking through the cloud cover.
“I instantly recognized the severity of our situation,” he said. “I announced, ‘Pull up, pull up, pull up, pull up' many times.” The plane’s ground proximity warning system sounded an alarm too.
From more than 2,200 feet (670 meters), the Boeing 777 plunged more than 1,400 feet (427 meters) toward the Pacific Ocean before the pilots — who were not named in the report — were able to recover, according to the NTSB.
The captain said he decided to continue on to San Francisco after the chief flight attendant told him that “everyone
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