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NOVA: WHY PLANES CRASH (TV)

Summary

One in this series of science documentaries. This edition examines the causes of airplane crashes and the efforts of the airline industry to safeguard against these tragedies. Includes the following segments: interviews with consumers about airline safety; a look at the effects of deregulation and increased competition on safety; a discussion of the human error behind the January, 1982 crash of Air Florida Flight 90, which went down in the Potomac; a look at a Continental Airlines flight crew seminar in which Flight 90 is discussed; the background of the current generation of pilots -- many of whom were fighter pilots -- and their ethic of self-sufficiency, which goes against the need for cockpit communication and teamwork; interviews with pilots about the positive and negative aspects of their job; a discussion of Cockpit Resource Management (CRM), a program first embraced by United, which requires captains, first officers, and flight engineers to undergo three days of retraining annually and stresses the importance of personal relationships in the cockpit; a discussion of Eastern Flight 401, which crashed in the Florida Everglades when the entire cockpit crew became preoccupied with a burnt-out light on the control board; simulated re-enactments of 401, which has become a case study; positive and negative observations about the value of CRM from the airlines, some which use it and some of which do not; the inherent difficulties of measuring the success of CRM; the computer enhancements on the Boeing 757, which greatly assist the pilot and have resulted in the automation of many parts of the piloting process; pilot response to this automation; human complacency as a result of automation; the dangers of automation as illustrated by Korean Air Flight 007, which was shot down in Soviet airspace, and Air China Dynasty Flight 6, a narrowly averted disaster; flying as an art form; the pressures of tight budgeting on the pilots; the perils of wind shear as illustrated by an August 1985 crash of Delta Flight 191 at Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport; the need for vigilant weather observation and better wind shear monitoring equipment; and a look at the issues raised at the National Transportation Safety Board hearing into the causes of the crash of Flight 191. Includes interviews and/or footage of the following people: Bill Reynard, director of the NASA Aviation Reporting System; Captain Roger Brooks of Frontier Airlines; John Nance, author and pilot; Rudy Kapustin, investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB); Paul Turner, a laboratory technician at NTSB; Captain Mel Volz, Senior Safety Consultant, United Airlines; Dr. Clay Foushee, manager of the NASA Aerospace Human Factors Division; Captain Frank Tullo, training instructor for Continental Airlines; Dr. John Lauber, psychologist at NTSB; Captain Joe Oliver of Delta Airlines; Captain Berton Beach, manager, Flight Training, Eastern Airlines; Del Fadden, manager, Flight Deck Integration, Boeing; Dr. Earl Wiener, Professor of Human Engineering at the University of Miami; Captain Ned Dolan of Eastern Airlines; Captain Jim Damron of the Airline Pilots Association; Charlie Finch, First Officer, Delta Airlines; Jerry Chandler, journalist; Dr. John McCarthy, scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research; Mike McMullen, Air Safety Investigator, NTSB; Harold Donner, Air Safety Investigator, NTSB; James Ewing, director of Delta Airlines' National Media Relations; and Captain Richard Stone, safety investigator for Delta Airlines.

Cataloging of this program was made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Details

  • NETWORK: PBS WGBH Boston, MA
  • DATE: February 3, 1987 9:00 PM
  • RUNNING TIME: 0:57:51
  • COLOR/B&W: Color
  • CATALOG ID: T:16624
  • GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
  • SUBJECT HEADING: Public affairs/Documentaries; Science/Nature; Aeronautics - Accidents
  • SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1974-
  • COMMERCIALS:
    • TV - Promos - "Nova: Orangutans of the Rainforest"

CREDITS

  • Paula S. Apsell … Executive Producer
  • Veronica L. Young … Producer, Director, Writer
  • Kerry Herman … Associate Producer
  • Gerri Brioso … Animation
  • Bob Evans … Narrator
  • Berton Beach
  • Roger Brooks
  • Jerry Chandler
  • Jim Damron
  • Ned Dolan
  • Harold Donner
  • James Ewing
  • Del Fadden
  • Charlie Finch
  • Clay Foushee
  • Rudy Kapustin
  • John Lauber
  • John McCarthy
  • Mike McMullen
  • John Nance
  • Joe Oliver
  • Richard Stone
  • Frank Tullo
  • Paul Turner
  • Mel Volz
  • Earl Wiener