Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 529

Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 529, registration N256AS, was an Embraer Brasilia aircraft that crashed near Carrollton, Georgia in the United States on August 21, 1995 while on a flight from the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport in Gulfport, Mississippi. Nine of the 29 passengers and crew on board eventually died due to injuries suffered in the accident. The accident had similarities with Atlantic_Southeast_Airlines_Flight_2311|another one that happened four years earlier with another Brasilia and serving with ASA, which finished with catastrophic results for the passengers and crew members. The investigations of both accidents concluded with a verdict: a design flaw in the propellers.

Aircraft
The aircraft had been delivered to Atlantic Southeast Airlines on March 3, 1989. Before the fatal flight it had made 18,171 cycles (one cycle can be roughly defined as one flight).

Passengers
Business travelers, ranging from 18 to 69 years of age, formed most of the aircraft's passengers. Six engineers, two deputy sheriffs, two air force personnel, a minister, and a New Orleans woman planning to become a flight attendant were also on the aircraft.

Accident
Flight 529 left the ramp area at Atlanta at 12:10, and took off at 12:23. At 12:43:25 and climbing through 18,100 feet, the occupants of the aircraft heard a thud which Matt Warmerdam, the co-pilot, described as sounding like a baseball bat striking an aluminum trash can. One of the blades of the Hamilton Standard propeller on the left engine had failed and the entire assembly had become dislodged, deforming the engine nacelle and distorting the wing's profile.

Although the EMB 120, like all transport category, multi-engine airplanes is designed to fly with one engine inoperative, the distortion of the engine resulted in excessive drag and loss of lift on the left side of the aircraft, causing it to rapidly lose altitude.

The Captain, Ed Gannaway, and his First Officer, Matt Warmerdam, initially tried to return to Atlanta for an emergency landing but the rapid descent resulted in them being diverted to West Georgia Regional Airport. The airplane was unable to stay in the air that long and the pilots began searching for an open space to make a crash landing on the aircraft's belly. At 12:52:45 the airplane struck the tops of the trees and crashed into a field in Carroll County, Georgia near the farming community of Burwell and the city of Carrollton.

Casualties
All of the passengers and crew aboard Flight 529 survived the initial impact; the fatalities were caused by a post-crash fire.

The fire, which started about one minute after impact, killed Gannaway, who had been knocked unconscious in the crash landing. The oxygen bottle behind the copilot seat later ignited, contributing to the strength of the fire. Warmerdam, bearing a dislocated shoulder, sustained burns as he used his left hand to hold an axe and cut through the thick cockpit glass. David McCorkell, a surviving passenger, pulled the axe out of the cockpit through a hole and struck the glass in order to increase the size of the hole and help Warmerdam escape. The emergency crews pulled Warmerdam out of the aircraft.

In addition to the captain, seven passengers died as a result of the crash and subsequent fire, including three who died within thirty days of the crash; bringing the official death toll to eight. A ninth victim died four months after the crash from severe burn injuries. None of the passengers or crew escaped uninjured; eight had minor injuries.

Many of the passengers suffered survivor's guilt; some believed that they should have assisted passengers

Mary Jean Adair, one of the survivors, died of a heart attack eight weeks after the crash; she was included in a dedication to the people killed by the crash in a memorial service at an elementary school gymnasium some years later.

Probable cause
The probable cause of the accident was determined to be the failure of the propeller due to undiscovered metal fatigue in one blade resulting from corrosion from chlorine. There had been two previous failures of the same type of propeller, but those aircraft had been able to land safely. The failed propeller blade had undergone scheduled ultrasonic testing on May 19, 1994, which resulted in its rejection and removal from the propeller. The blade was sent to a Hamilton Standard facility, where it was subject to refurbishing work that was incorrectly performed. The propeller blade was then installed on the propeller fitted to the aircraft on September 30, 1994.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) criticized Hamilton Standard, who had maintained the propellers, for "inadequate and ineffective corporate inspection and repair techniques, training, documentation and communication", and both Hamilton and the Federal Aviation Administration for "failure to require recurrent on-wing ultrasonic inspections for the affected propellers". The overcast skies and low cloud ceiling at the crash site also contributed to the severity of the crash.

Aftermath
The Military Fraternal Organization of Pilots awarded Warmerdam its medallion for his role in the disaster after treatment for burns. In 2002, after an estimated 50 surgeries and lengthy therapy, he was able to resume flying for ASA. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons honored his positive attitude during the long recovery with one of their “Patients of Courage: Triumph Over Adversity” awards in 2005.

The area residents built a memorial to the crash at the Shiloh United Methodist church, near Burwell.

Many surviving passengers credited Robin Fech, the flight attendant, with saving their lives. Tanner Medical Center treated Fech's broken wrist and other lacerations before releasing her. The Georgia State Senate passed a resolution honoring Fech. The NTSB accident report commended "the exemplary manner in which the flight attendant briefed the passengers and handled the emergency". However, Dawn Dumm cried futilely out to Fech, who was with other passengers in the hayfield, to help her and her mother Adair. Dumm initially criticized Fech; later she reasoned that Fech could not hear her screams and/or did not see her in the smoke. In addition Fech was proven to have been assisting passengers during that moment in the hayfield. Fech stated that she felt upset by Dumm's criticism. Fech never worked as a flight attendant after the ASA 529 disaster.

Books and documentaries

 * The disaster was featured on Mayday (Air Crash Investigation, Air Emergency) in the episode "Wounded Bird" (also known in some countries as "A Wounded Bird" and "One Wing Flight").
 * A book on the disaster, Nine Minutes, Twenty Seconds: The Tragedy & Triumph of ASA Flight 529 by Gary M. Pomerantz, was written in 2001.

Related Incidents

 * Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 2311