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Published: Jun 13, 2006 - 11:02:18 pm EDT
'Cavalier' crew draws blame; Retired generals say familiarity led to complacency
By Jenny Maher, Delaware State News
DOVER - When retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Richard Bundy learned Tuesday about the human errors that caused the April 3 C-5 crash at Dover Air Force Base, all he could do was shake his head in disbelief.
During an afternoon press conference at the base, Col. Raymond Torres, president of the Accident Investigation Board, announced that the crash resulted from several mistakes made by the pilots and flight engineers.
Those mistakes included using an incorrect flap setting, failing to use a fully operational engine and attempting to land at an incorrect altitude.
Mr. Bundy, who flew C-5s for three years and served as commander of Dover Air Force Base's 436th Airlift Wing, found the findings unsettling.
"I'm kind of shocked," he said after reviewing the report. "I don't know how this highly experienced crew could do that."
Col. Torres blamed the errors on complacency and a lack of situational awareness.
He compared it to the way drivers get careless when they're in familiar territory.
"We're all used to driving to our home, condo or apartment, and accidents often occur because we get close to (home)," he said.
"We're used to rounding that corner and not quite stopping at that stop sign. We're used to whatever the neighborhood traffic pattern is."
Retired Brig. Gen. Michael J. Quarnaccio agreed that the aircrew could have been overly confident and complacent because they were flying close to home.
"I hate to say this, but maybe they had a cavalier attitude," he said. "When you're in your own backyard, you're familiar with what you're doing and that could lead to that attitude."
Mr. Quarnaccio is a retired commander of Dover Air Force Base's 512th Airlift Wing with eight years of C-5 piloting experience.
He said it's not only hard to understand how experienced pilots and flight engineers could make such glaring mistakes, but how the other crew members could miss the errors.
"I was shocked that there were so many people in the airplane and nobody caught it," he said.
"How do you fly an airplane with two engines? The whole crew should've been looking at all that stuff."
There were 13 crew members and four passengers aboard the C-5 when it crashed.
The three pilots had more than 10,000 hours of C-5 flight experience, Col. Torres said, and the two flight engineers had more than 12,000 hours of C-5 flight experience.
George Talley, of Felton, a retired C-5 pilot with Dover Air Force Base's 512th Operations Unit, said he wonders if the air crew's mistakes could have been caused by inexperience with new C-5 cockpit instrumentation.
The aircraft was one of a dozen C-5s to recently receive a cockpit instrument modernization.
However, the Accident Investigation Board concluded that the types of errors that led to the crash would not have been impacted by the cockpit changes.
Despite their findings, Mr. Talley remains skeptical.
"That's easy for them to say," he quipped.
Mr. Talley said he knows some of the crew members and is confident in their expertise.
He was disappointed to learn about their mistakes, although he feared that human error had been a factor.
"When I first heard the eyewitness accounts, I thought, 'Uh-oh, it sounds like (the pilots) stalled the airplanes,' and it turned out that is what happened," he said.
"I was hoping I was wrong."
Retired Navy Chief Petty Officer Paul W. Kath, a passenger aboard the ill-fated C-5, was also upset by the Accident Investigation Board's findings.
Until this week, he assumed the crash had been caused by mechanical problems.
However, after learning about the mistakes, he said he felt no resentment toward the crew members.
In fact, he praised them for helping the passengers to safety after the crash, even though there were puddles of fuel surrounding the plane, creating a major fire hazard.
"I'm saddened there was human error," he said during a phone interview from his Hawaii home.
"But I still hold the crew in high esteem. They did a lot of things in a very short and scary time period to get us off the plane."
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Staff writer Jenny Maher can be reached at 741-8233 or
[email protected]