Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 182
As early-morning commuter flight Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 182 was descending in clear sunny skies on September 25, 1978, for its destination at San Diego's Lindbergh Field. 42-year-old Captain James E. McFeron, 38-year-old Co-Pilot Robert E. Fox, and 44-year-old Flight Engineer Martin J. Wahne. Captain McFeron, each experienced flight crew with well over 10,000 hours of flight time, were preparing their aircraft for landing. The PSA crew were alerted by the approach controller about the proximity of a Cessna 172 Skyhawk aircraft.
The VFR Cessna was being flown by a 5000 plus hour 32-year-old flight instructor, Martin B. Kazy Jr, and 35-year-old David Boswell, a U.S. Marine Corps sergeant, also a licensed Commercial IFR pilot with 407 hours logged, who at the time of the accident, was under “the hood” practicing ILS approaches.
08:59:39 San Diego approach control: PSA one eighty-two, additional traffic's ah, twelve o'clock, three miles just north of the field, northeast-bound, a Cessna one seventy-two climbing VFR out of one thousand four hundred
08:59:50 First officer: (to San Diego approach control) Okay we've got that other twelve.
08:59:57 San Diego approach control: Cessna seven seven one one golf, San Diego departure radar contact, maintain VFR conditions at or below three thousand five hundred, fly heading zero seven zero, vector final approach course.
09:00:15 San Diego approach control: PSA one eighty-two, traffic's at twelve o'clock, three miles out of one thousand seven hundred.
09:00:21 First officer: Got 'em.
09:00:22 Captain (to San Diego approach control)Traffic in sight.
09:00:26 First officer: Flaps two.
09:00:34 Captain: (to Lindbergh tower) Lindbergh, PSA one eighty-two downwind.
09:00:38 Lindbergh tower: PSA one eighty-two, Lindbergh tower, ah, traffic twelve o'clock one mile a Cessna.
09:00:41 First officer: Flaps five.
09:00:42 Captain: Is that the one (we're) looking at?
09:00:43 First officer: Yeah, but I don't see him now.
09:00:44 Captain: (to Lindbergh tower) Okay, we had it there a minute ago.
09:00:47 Lindbergh tower: One eighty-two, roger.
09:00:50 Captain: (to Lindbergh tower) I think he's pass(ed) off to our right.
09:00:51 Lindbergh tower: Yeah.
09:00:52 Captain: He was right over here a minute ago.
09:00:53 First officer: Yeah.
Lindbergh tower heard the 09.00:50 transmission as "He's passing off to our right" and assumed the PSA jet had the Cessna in sight.
09:01:07 Lindbergh tower: PSA one eighty-two, cleared to land.
09:01:08 Captain: (to Lindbergh tower) One eighty-two's cleared to land.
09:01:11 First officer: Are we clear of that Cessna?
09:01:13 Flight engineer : Suppose to be
09:01:14 Captain: I guess
09:01:21 Captain: Oh yeah, before we turned downwind,
I saw him at about one o'clock, probably behind us now
In reality, the VFR Cessna was directly ahead and slightly below the Boeing, with the PSA 727 descending rapidly and closing. The Cessna took one last slight right turn to the east, deviating from the assigned course placing it directly in line between the PSA jet and its intended runway. and finally, as a last unfortunate factor arises, the slightly lower yellowish coloured Cessna blended against the backdrop of multicolored houses of the residential area beneath; most of which were also a yellowish color. The VFR aircraft became almost invisible to the approaching 727.
Approach Control on the ground picked up a automated conflict alert, but did not relay this information to the aircraft because, such alerts were commonplace even when there was no actual conflict. Both aircraft were alerted to each other, and had acknowledged visual contact. The crew of Flight 182 were complying with their visual separation clearance; and were executing an overtake maneuver within the separation parameters of the conflict alert computer; and that, therefore, no conflict existed.
09:01:31 First officer: Gear down
09:01:38 First officer: There's one underneath
09:01:39 First officer: I was looking at that inbound there
09:01:45 Captain: Whoop!
09:01:46 First officer: Aaargh!
09:01:47 ((Sound of impact))
PSA Flight 182 overtook the Cessna, on a 090 (due east) heading. The collision occurred at approximately 2,600 feet and broke the Cessna, and the 727's right wing and empennage, to pieces.
According to several witnesses on the ground, there was first a loud metallic "crunching" sound, then an explosion and fire that drew them to look up.
The wreckage of the Cessna plummeted straight to the ground, its vertical stabilizer torn from its fuselage and bent leftward, its debris hitting around 3,500 feet northwest of where the 727 went down. PSA 182's right wing was heavily damaged and a ruptured fuel tank streaming fire into the slipstream, rendering the plane uncontrollable, and careening into a sharp right bank.
09:01:49 Captain: Easy baby, easy baby
09:01:51 Captain: What have we got here?
09:01:52 First officer: It's bad
09:01:52 Captain: Huh?
09:01:53 First officer: We're hit man, we are hit
09:01:55 Captain: (to Lindbergh tower) Tower, we're going down, this is PSA
09:01:57 Lindbergh tower: OK, we'll call the equipment for you
09:01:58 ((Sound of stall warning))
09:01:59 Captain: (to Lindbergh tower) This is it, baby!
09:02:00 First officer: # # #
09:02:03 Captain: (on intercom, to passengers) Brace yourself
09:02:04 Unknown: Hey, baby *
09:02:04 Unknown: Ma, I love ya
Flight 182 impacted a house three miles northeast of Lindbergh Field at a 300 mph in a nose-down attitude banked 50° to the right. Seismographic readings indicated that the impact occurred at 09:02:07, 2.5 seconds after the CVR lost power. The coordinates for the Boeing crash site are 32°44′37″N 117°07′14″WCoordinates: 32°44′37″N 117°07′14″W. The largest piece of the Cessna impacted about six blocks away near 32nd St. and Polk Ave. The coordinates for the Cessna crash site are 32°45′7.97″N 117°7′32.57″W. The explosion and fire from the 727 crashing created a mushroom cloud that could be seen for miles
NTSB investigators found the fault lay with the crew of Flight 182, whom never explicitly alerted the tower that they had lost sight of the Cessna. If they had made this clear to controllers, the crash might not have happened. Contributing to the accident was the Cessna's failure to maintain the heading of 70 degrees assigned to it by ATC instead of turning to 90 degrees, the NTSB estimates the planes would have missed each other by about 1000 feet. Ultimately, the NTSB maintained that regardless of that change in course, it was the responsibility of the crew in the overtaking jet to comply with the regulatory requirement to pass "well clear" of the Cessna.
In total, 144 people lost their lives in the disaster on that fateful day, including Flight instructor, and his student, Flight 182's seven crew members, their passengers, as well as the seven residents (five women, two children) on the ground.
Truly the stuff of aeronautical nightmares…
WHY????????
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