Name: Francisco, Christian Miguel N.

Section: AE- 502

Subject: Reliability Engineering

Title:
Collision With Trees on Final Approach Federal Express Flight 1478 Boeing 727-232, N497FE
Tallahassee, Florida July 26, 2002

Executive Summary:
Western Airlines Flight 2605, nicknamed the "Night Owl", was an international scheduled passenger flight from Los
Angeles, California, to Mexico City, Mexico. On October 31, 1979, at 5:42 a.m. CST (UTC−06:00), the aircraft used for
the flight, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10, crashed at Mexico City International Airport in fog, after landing on a runway
closed for maintenance. Of the 88 people on board, 72 were killed in the crash; and one person on the ground, a
maintenance worker, also died when the plane struck his vehicle.
Flight 2605 remains the deadliest air accident in Mexico City. The event is the third-deadliest aviation accident to occur
on Mexican soil, after the crashes of two Boeing 727s—the 1969 crash of Mexicana Flight 704 and Mexicana Flight 940
in 1986. The crash of Flight 2605 was one of three fatal McDonnell Douglas DC-10 accidents in 1979, occurring just over
five months after the crash of American Airlines Flight 191 at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and less than a
month before the crash of Air New Zealand Flight 901 on Mount Erebus in Antarctica.

Findings:
Mexico City International Airport has two runways: Runway 23 Left (23L), and Runway 23 Right (23R). At the time of
the accident, runway 23L had full instrument approach equipment, including an Instrument Landing System (ILS), while
Runway 23R did not. On October 19, 1979, a notice to airmen was issued stating that Runway 23L would be closed until
further notice for resurfacing work.
The October 31, 1979 flight left Los Angeles International Airport at 1:40 AM PST (UTC−08:00), and was scheduled to
land well before sunrise in Mexico City. The airport was quite dark, as twilight had only started 5 minutes before the
crash, and there was ground fog obscuring the runway.
Weather conditions were deteriorating during Flight 2605's instrument approach. A 5:00 AM weather report indicated
visibility of 2-3 nautical miles depending on direction; by 6:00 AM (shortly after the accident) visibility was described as
"zero". Flight 2605 was on short final to the closed runway at 5:42 AM.
One second later the crew decided to abort the landing and applied go-around power. The flight's first officer began to
describe the ILS approach's missed approach procedure, a climb to 8,500 feet, in a "nonurgent, perfunctory manner" as the
DC-10 became airborne.
Approximately 3.3 seconds after the touch down and in a 10-11 degree nose up attitude, the right main gear collided with
a dump truck loaded with 10 tons of earth. Most of the right main gear separated from the aircraft and struck the right
horizontal stabiliser. The impact of the landing gear shattered the truck, fatally injuring its driver, and creating a debris
field 400m by 100m in area.
The aircraft's bank angle continued to increase to the point that the right wing began to cut into the ground and taxiways
nearby the closed runway. The end of the right wing eventually struck the corner of an aircraft repair hangar, causing
damage to the hangar and also fracturing the DC-10's right wing. It then impacted an Eastern Airlines service building
north of both runways, 26 seconds after it initially touched down. This final impact caused the structural breakup of the
aircraft, heavily damaged the two story reinforced concrete building, and caused a fire that consumed most of the aircraft
structure.
Probable Cause:

Between the time of their beginning the approach and the crash, they were advised that the landing runway was 23R four
times by approach control or the tower But the phrase "sidestep" or "sidestep approach" – common aviation parlance in
the United States– was never used by Mexico air traffic controllers to Flight 2605 to describe the approach. There was no
published visual representation of the sidestep approach available to the pilots. Text remarks for the sidestep approach to
23R described only ceiling and visibility minimums.
Recommendations:

Whenever there is an unfamiliar term being instructed to you don’t be afraid to clarify and ask about it. Communication
and understanding is important in the aviation field and the usually norms and “slangs” should be standardize to avoid
accidents like this.

Reflection
Lack of Communication and different Norms played a role in this case and it surprised me that a single word was the
cause of the misunderstanding. Not knowing a single term meant the life of everyone on board. For me this showed the
importance of proper communication and should not move when in doubt. Being late and delayed to have a better
understanding of the communication is better than going in with doubts.
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Airlines_Flight_2605