Term Paper on "Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 182"

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At 0859:01 (PST), the Lindbergh tower control cleared the Cessna to maintain Visual Flight Rules (VFR) conditions and to contact San Diego approach control. The Cessna pilot did so immediately thereafter and the San Diego approach control acknowledged radar contact and instructed him to maintain VFR conditions at or below 3500 ft. And to fly a heading of 070 o.

Pacific Southwest Airlines flight 182 was a regular commercial passenger flight operating between Sacramento and San Diego with a stopover in Los Angeles. After its scheduled stopover in Los Angeles, the flight 182 departed at 0834 (PST) on an Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) plan with 128 passengers and 7 crewmembers on board. The aircraft was flown by the first officer, the captain conducted most of the air-to-ground communications, and a deadheading company pilot occupied the forward observer seat in the cockpit.

Communication with San Diego Approach Controller & Lindbergh Tower

At 0853 Flight 182 reported to San Diego approach control while flying at 11,000 ft. It was cleared to descent to 7000 ft. At 0857, flight 182 informed that it was descending from 9500 to 7000 ft and the airport was in sight. Thereafter, the approach control cleared the aircraft for a visual approach to runway 27 and the pilot acknowledged the clearance.

At 0859: 28 the approach controller advised flight 182: "there was traffic at twelve o'clock, one mile northbound." The communication was acknowledged by the flight, five seconds later with "we're looking."

At 0859:39, the approach controller informed flight 182, "additional traffic's 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." At 0859:50, the co-pilot responded with, "Okay we have got that other twelve."

At 0900:15, the approach controller informed flight 182: "traffic's at twelve o'clock, three miles, out of one thousand seven hundred." The information was acknowledged by flight 182 a few second later through messages of "got em" and "traffic in sight."

At 0900:23, the approach controller asked Flight 182 to "maintain visual separation," and to contact Lindbergh tower and Flight 182 acknowledged.

At 0900:31, the approach controller advised the Cessna pilot that there was "traffic at six o'clock, two miles, eastbound; a PSA jet inbound to Lindbergh, out of three thousand two hundred, has you in sight." The Cessna pilot acknowledged with: "One golf, roger."

At 0900:34, Flight 182 contacted Lindbergh tower and informed that they were on the downwind leg for landing. The tower acknowledged the transmission and informed Flight 182 that there was "traffic, twelve o'clock, one mile, a Cessna."

Confusion in the Cockpit

At 0900:41, the first officer who was at the controls of flight 182, called for 5" flaps, and the captain asked, "Is that the one (we're) looking at?" The first officer answered, "Yeah, but I don't see him now."

The Flight 182's flight crew continued to discuss the location of the traffic, indicating considerable confusion in the cockpit. For example, at 0900:44, Flight 182 told the local controller, "Okay, we had it there a minute ago," and at 0900:50: "think he's passing off to our right." At 0900:52, the captain said, "He was right over there a minute ago." The first officer answered, "Yeah." Then at 0901:11, after the captain told the local controller how far they were going to extend their downwind leg, the first officer asked, "Are we clear of that Cessna?" The flight engineer answered, "Supposed to be"; the captain said, "I guess"; and the pilot on the forward observer seat responded with, "I hope." This was followed by the Captain's observation at 0901:21, "Oh yeah, before we turned downwind, I saw him about one o'clock, probably behind us now" and the first officer calling out at 0901:38, "There's one underneath," and then, 1 sec later saying, "I was looking at that inbound there." This was the last recorded conversation from the cockpit of flight 182 before its actual impact with the Cessna.

The Accident

The NTSB investigation report, referring to eyewitness accounts records that both aircraft were proceeding in an easterly direction before the collision. Flight 182 was descending and overtaking the Cessna, which was climbing. Just before impact, Flight 182 banked to the right slightly, and the Cessna pitched noseup and collided with the right wing of Flight 182. ("Aircraft Accident Report," 1979, p.4) Just before the impact, the captain, probably anticipating the collision exclaimed "Whoop!" And the first officer moaned "Aghhh!" The Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) recorded the sound of impact at 0901:47 ("CVR Transcript..." n.d.). The Cessna broke up immediately on impact and exploded. Parts of the Boeing's right wing also fell out. Following the impact, Flight 182 began a shallow right descending turn leaving a trail of vaporlike substance from the right wing. A bright orange fire also erupted in the vicinity of the right wing and increased in intensity as the aircraft descended. The aircraft remained in a right turn until its impact with the ground, which occurred at 0902: 07.

Flight 182's CVR after the impact with the Cessna records the Captain asking "What have we got here?" And the first officer responding with "It's bad. We're hit, man, we are hit!" It also records the Captain as remarking "This is it!" And "Brace yourself" and another crewmember exclaiming "Ma, I love you!" just before the aircraft hit the ground into a heavily populated residential area of San Diego ("CVR Transcript..." n.d.).

Eyewitness Accounts

The eyewitness accounts of the terrible crash reveal a story of indescribable horror. The plane was split apart into millions of pieces on impact and its human cargo instantly disintegrated, flinging headless corpses and dismembered bodies into houses, onto rooftops, on lawns, and into the street. Walls were splattered with human remains. One body actually smashed through a car's windshield, killing a mother and her daughter inside the car. (Stich 178)

Several eyewitnesses such as radio executive Joe Gillespie recalled 20 years after the crash: "I remember that day as if it happened yesterday." (Shess 1998) Another eyewitness, Gary Jaus, a rookie cop at San Diego Police Academy at the time, who was assigned the task of combing through the wreckage for I.Ds of the victims recalled: "There were no faces on the bodies. There were no bodies to speak of -- only pieces. One alley was filled with just arms, legs and feet..." And noted that he was only able to do his gory duty that day without getting sick because he had worked at a mortuary before becoming a cop. Even he, despite being no stranger to dead bodies, in his own words: "wasn't ready to see the torso of a stewardess slammed against a car" (Ibid.)

Robert Osby, then a battalion chief with the San Diego Fire Department, and later the fire chief, who supervised the rescue efforts at the disaster site recalls that the firefighters due to their prompt and professional efforts were able to contain the fire from spreading beyond a remarkably small area -- only two sides of one short block of Dwight Street. He also thanks God that the plane had crashed into a working-class neighborhood on a Monday morning when most of the residents of the destroyed homes were at work; otherwise the death toll on the ground would have been much higher (Ibid.) Another reason why the fireball from the fallen aircraft was contained in a smaller area was… READ MORE