On February 23rd, 2019, Atlas Air flight 3591, heading to George Bush Intercontinental from Miami International, crashed near Anahuac, Texas. As is often the case, it was a sequence of failings that led to the deaths of captain, first officer, and an additional pilot in the jumpseat.However, at the heart of the sequence of events that led the 767 freighter to rapidly descend into the ground was what is known as a “pitch-up somatogravic illusion,” a phenomenon in which an increase in acceleration can create the illusion that the aircraft is pitching up. Video released by Anahauc ISD shows the final moments of the doomed Atlas Air flight 3591 before it plunged into Trinity Bay on Feb. 23.
Atlas Air Flight 3591 was a scheduled domestic cargo flight operating for Amazon Air between Miami International Airport and George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.On February 23, 2019, the Boeing 767-375ER(BCF) used for this flight crashed into Trinity Bay during approach into Houston, killing the two crew members and one passenger on board. Investigators also concluded the captain’s failure to command a positive transfer of control of the airplane as soon as he attempted to intervene on the controls enabled the first officer to continue to force the airplane into a steepening dive.”On top of that, investigators found that the first officer had performance deficiencies which he took deliberate steps to conceal, and might have led Atlas Air to take appropriate action had they known of them in the first place.“The first officer in this accident deliberately concealed his history of performance deficiencies, which limited Atlas Air’s ability to fully evaluate his aptitude and competency as a pilot,” said NTSB As a result of the investigation, the NTSB has issued six new safety recommendations to the FAA, addressing “flight crew performance, industry pilot hiring process deficiencies, and adaptations of automatic ground collision avoidance system technology.”Gabriel Leigh grew up on long-haul flights and has been fascinated by airplanes since he can remember. Now based in Sweden, he writes about transport, travel and more for publications like The New York Times, Monocle and Forbes.Get weekly updates on Flightradar24 and have the latest aviation news land in your inbox.Join over 500,000 subscribers and get access to 50+ premium-only features including: However, the NTSB also points to the captain’s failure to properly monitor the situation, as well as failings in industry standards for performance assessment that failed to catch “aptitude related deficiencies and maladaptive stress response” on the part of the first officer.
The suit accuses the defendants of failing to operate the aircraft in a safe manner.On September 9, 2019, the family of first officer Conrad Jules Aska filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Amazon and Atlas Air, citing improper training and negligence.N1217A, the Boeing 767 involved, seen nine days before the accident Atlas Air was operating a scheduled domestic shipping service for Amazon Air.
Also contributing were systemic deficiencies in the aviation industry’s selection and performance measurement practices, which failed to address the first officer’s aptitude-related deficiencies and maladaptive stress response. On August 6, 2020, the NTSB released the final accident report, which stated: "The NTSB determines that the probable cause of this accident was the inappropriate response by the first officer as the pilot flying to an inadvertent activation of the go-around mode, which led to his spatial disorientation and nose-down control inputs that placed the airplane in a steep descent from which the crew did not recover.
Contributing to the accident was the captain’s failure to adequately monitor the airplane’s flightpath and assume positive control of the airplane to effectively intervene. by Rob Finfrock - January 13, 2020, 12:34 PM. Also contributing to the accident was the Federal Aviation Administration’s failure to implement the pilot records database in a sufficiently robust and timely manner.
"On June 11, 2020, the NTSB announced that the next board meeting would determine the cause of the accident; Atlas Air Flight #3591 Crash Executive Summary: On February 23, 2019, 12:39 central standard time, Atlas Air flight #3591 (Atlas 3591) operating on behalf of Amazon Prime Air, Amazon.coms’ newly founded package delivery carrier, crashed into Trinity Bay in Baytown, Texas (TX); United States of America (U.S.A.) 1. The first officer evidently believed the aircraft was stalling despite no stall warning activating in the flight deck.The NTSB released the following animation of the flight:The captain was also distracted because he was setting up the approach and speaking to ATC, according to the NTSB, which said “his attention was diverted from monitoring the airplane’s state and verifying that the flight was proceeding as planned. The water varies in depth from zero to five feet (1.5 m) deep and is partially mud marsh.Captain Ricky Blakely of Indiana (60), First Officer Conrad Jules Aska of Captain Blakely had logged a total of 11,172 flight hours, including 1,252 hours on the Boeing 767. That happened as a result of the go-around mode being activated inadvertently.