Letters From Grandpa #551

• LETTERS FROM GRANDPA
• 551

Dearest grandchild,

Today’s letter will deal with aviation. Grandpa and our good friend Warren Phelps purchased an airplane in 1961 for $600. We both became pilots! Warren went on to become a 747 Captain with United Airlines. I became a commercial pilot and flight instructor. In aviation PIC stands for Pilot in Command. This refers to the person on board who is ultimately responsible for the operation and safety of the airplane. The initials CRM refer to Crew Resource Management. Since the 1980’s pilots are trained to use and manage every resource available to ensure the safety of their flight. Some of these resources are outside the airplane and can be accessed by radio or telephone. Others are inside the airplane but are of no value unless they are recognized and used.

A good example of CRM involves United Flight 232. This flight took place July 19, 1989 and was from Stapleton in Denver to O’Hare in Chicago. The PIC was Capt. Al Haynes with 30,000 hours of experience. The plane was a DC 10 with 285 passengers and a crew of 11. The airplane was powered by three CF6-6D high bypass-ratio turbofan engines produced by General Electric. Tragically, the aircraft's No. 2 tail-mounted engine exploded resulting in a controlled crash that took 112 lives.

• The DC-10 used three independent hydraulic systems, each powered by one of the aircraft's three engines. At 15:16, while the airplane was at its cruising altitude of 37,000 feet, the fan disc of its tail-mounted engine exploded. The failure resulted in the engine's fan disk departing the aircraft, tearing out components including parts of the No. 2 hydraulic system and supply hoses. Engine debris penetrated the aircraft's tail section in numerous places, including the horizontal stabilizer, also severing the No. 1 and No. 3 hydraulic system lines where they passed through the horizontal stabilizer. The pilots felt a jolt, and the autopilot disengaged, and the airplane became virtually uncontrollable. As First Officer Records took hold of his control column, Captain Haynes concentrated on analyzing the damage. He found, among other problems, that both throttle and fuel supply controls were jammed. To help prevent a fire the fuel valve for the
• 2 tail engine was shut off. Accomplishing these emergency procedures took only 14 seconds.

The damaged plane was descending to the right and basically out of control. Afraid the plane might completely roll over and become inverted the Captain reduced the left engine to idle and the right engine to maximum power. This caused the plane to partially level while still turning to the right. The fluid quantity and pressure on all three hydraulic systems indicated zero. Left turns were impossible and maximum power on only one engine doomed them to descend. The crew correctly contacted United Airlines for help. Sadly they discovered that such a failure was considered so remote by the company that no safety procedure had even been established. Now the plane was not only turning to the right but also oscillating violently, losing about 1,500 feet with every gyration. Using CRM procedures they checked among their passengers and discovered that a United pilot named Captain Fitch was on board. Providentially, he just happened to be a DC-10 flight instructor. At about 15:29 he was invited into the cockpit. His help was critical! Fitch handled the throttles and Haynes did his best with the flight controls. Only a mere 13 minutes had gone by since the tragedy began.

The nearest airport was Sioux City Gateway and ATC cleared them for an emergency landing. Only able to make right turns made a safe landing virtually impossible. The crew felt that lowering the landing gear might soften the crash, but in the absence of hydraulic pressure time consuming emergency procedures had to be employed. They were cleared for runway 31 but unable to accurately turn the plane they crashed on runway 22 which had been permanently closed for a year. To keep from

stalling their approach speed was 250 mph, which was 90 mph faster than a normal approach. Their sink rate was 1,850 feet per minute, when it should have been 300 feet per minute. The right wing hit the ground igniting jet fuel into a huge ball of flames. The tail section broke off and witnesses say the plane cartwheeled end over end. Of the 296 people on board 112 died in the accident and 184 survived. Rescuers did not identify the debris that was the remains of the cockpit until 35 minutes after the crash. Incredibly, all four crew members were injured but still alive. Thankfully, all four recovered from their injuries and eventually returned to flight duty.

Experienced test pilots in simulators have been unable to reproduce a landing with any survivors with the catastrophic failures faced by flight 232. Hence Capt. Haynes and his crew are credited with making “The impossible landing.” In fact, it is considered one of the most remarkable landings ever performed in the history of aviation. It is also considered the “gold standard” example of the successful use of Crew Resource Management.

Now for the application! You are, in a sense, like the pilot in control of your own life. When you face a crisis the buck stops with you. You are free, however, to use any legitimate resource that is available. Obviously, calling out to God is of primary importance. Psalms 107 tells of people at their wit’s end who correctly cried out to the Lord in their trouble (Ps. 107:27-28). As the PIC the responsibility for calling out to God rests squarely on your own shoulders. Adam tried to blame Eve, and Eve tried to blame the serpent, but God holds every one of us responsible for our own behavior. Ezekiel said it like this: “The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son.” (Ezekiel 18:20) Every one of us will be judged on the basis of our own conduct!

Your primary source of help, of course, should always be God! Psalm 46:1 reminds us that God is a very present help in time of trouble. We should always call upon God first and not after everything else has failed. God can help you in an infinite number of ways. He can help you personally, or send angels to do His bidding. Further, God has promised to provide wisdom to all who ask Him for it in faith (James 1:5-7) No wisdom is provided for those who do not believe! When Jesus faced temptations in Gethsemane He not only asked help from God but even from Peter, James, and John (Matthew 26:36-38). If Jesus was humble enough to ask for help from His friends, what is our excuse? Remember! We are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us! (Romans 8:37)

Wise King Solomon said it like this: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all you ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

I love you,

Grandpa Boyce