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In 60% of crashes, the "probable cause" is eventually listed as pilot error—a reflection of the fact that increasingly complex planes have become so unforgiving that they must be flown strictly by the book. Departure from proper procedure, a lapse in cockpit discipline, can be a flirtation with disaster. But U.S. airlines, for all their check flights, are sometimes slow to catch and correct pilot mistakes before they become fatal. Electronic flight recorders keep a continuous "profile" of every flight—course, speed, altitude, rate of descent, etc. When they are recovered from crashes, they are an invaluable help in detecting the cause. But deciphering a recorder's tape is a timeconsuming, expensive procedure —which is why they have not been routinely checked after safe flights to detect dangerous or careless airmanship that has not yet caused trouble. United Air Lines has started to analyze its recorder tapes and re-evaluate its pilot-training records since the November crash of one of its 727s, piloted by a captain whose training record was pocked with such comments as "unsatisfactory," "weak," "below standard," and "inclined to get sloppy."
Other forms of economic pressure prevent the lines from learning as much as they might from mistakes. The companies are reluctant to make public all the information that they glean from a crash lest they lay themselves open to suits for defaming the manufacturer or pilot, or point the way for damage claims from crash victims or their families. San Francisco Lawyer Melvin Belli has recorded a lecture (price: $12.50) on how to sue the airlines. Pilots have been hesitant to report collision near misses since former Federal Aeronautics Administration Chief Elwood Quesada started to fine them for errors in airmanship.
One of the greatest impediments to safety is noise-abatement procedure—a product of political and economic pressure that forces pilots to make some drastic power reductions and steep turns while still flying low and slow after takeoff. Says Pilot Harry Orlady, a 25-year veteran with United: "Noise-abatement procedures force you to fly as close to danger as you dare to. You don't have much margin for error." Adds Continental Air Lines Captain Al O'Neal: "If I were a passenger, I would deeply resent those sharp turns close to the ground." Noise abatement is a problem near most cities, but the pilot's nightmare is Runway 31 Left, the busiest at New York's Kennedy Airport. Its takeoff procedure requires pilots to make a sharp turn at a low altitude at low speed. An aviation cadet trying the same trick might never win his wings. Though no crash has been directly blamed on noise abatement, at least one American 707—which plunged into Jamaica Bay and killed all 95 aboard in 1962—would have had a better chance if the pilot had been allowed to climb away fast and straight.
Surviving a Crash