Narrative:
ATI Flight 805 departed from Seattle at 23:20 for a flight to Toledo. The 1st officer was flying the ILS approach to runway 07. For undetermined reasons, he failed to properly capture the ILS localizer and/or glide slope during the approach. At 03:13 the captain decided to carry out a go-around. The aircraft was vectored onto a base leg and given a heading of 100deg to intercept the final approach course again. With a 35 knots crosswind (at 180deg) on the approach the 1st officer had trouble capturing the localizer/glide slope. At 03:24, as the 1st officer was attempting to stabilize the approach, 3 GPWS glide slope warnings and sink rate warnings sounded. The captain took over control at 03:24:17 and performed another missed approach manoeuvre. He became spatially disoriented and inadvertently allowed an unusual attitude to develop with bank angles up to 80deg and pitch angles up to 25deg. When in a nose-low and left bank angle attitude, control of the airplane was transferred back to the 1st officer who began levelling the wings and raising the nose of the airplane. Impact with the ground occurred before the unusual attitude recovery was completed.
PROBABLE CAUSE: "The failure of the flight crew to properly recognize or recover in a timely manner from the unusual aircraft attitude that resulted from the captain's apparent spatial disorientation, resulting from physiological factors and/or a failed attitude director."
ADI issues
Loss of control
» NTSB/AAR-92/05
accident date: 15-02-1992
type: McDonnell Douglas DC-8-63F
registration: N794AL
| Status: | Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
| Date: | Saturday 15 February 1992 |
| Time: | 03:26 |
| Type: |  McDonnell Douglas DC-8-63F |
| Operator: | Air Transport International - ATI |
| Registration: | N794AL |
| MSN: | 45923/383 |
| First flight: | 1968 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 70425 |
| Cycles: | 22980 |
| Engines: | 4 Pratt & Whitney JT3D-7 (Q) |
| Crew: | Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3 |
| Passengers: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Total: | Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Aircraft fate: | Written off (damaged beyond repair) |
| Location: | 5 km (3.1 mls) NW of Toledo-Express Airport, OH (TOL) ( United States of America)
|
| Phase: | Approach (APR) |
| Nature: | Cargo |
| Departure airport: | Seattle/Tacoma International Airport, WA (SEA/KSEA), United States of America |
| Toledo-Express Airport, OH (TOL/KTOL), United States of America | |
| Flightnumber: | 805 |
ATI Flight 805 departed from Seattle at 23:20 for a flight to Toledo. The 1st officer was flying the ILS approach to runway 07. For undetermined reasons, he failed to properly capture the ILS localizer and/or glide slope during the approach. At 03:13 the captain decided to carry out a go-around. The aircraft was vectored onto a base leg and given a heading of 100deg to intercept the final approach course again. With a 35 knots crosswind (at 180deg) on the approach the 1st officer had trouble capturing the localizer/glide slope. At 03:24, as the 1st officer was attempting to stabilize the approach, 3 GPWS glide slope warnings and sink rate warnings sounded. The captain took over control at 03:24:17 and performed another missed approach manoeuvre. He became spatially disoriented and inadvertently allowed an unusual attitude to develop with bank angles up to 80deg and pitch angles up to 25deg. When in a nose-low and left bank angle attitude, control of the airplane was transferred back to the 1st officer who began levelling the wings and raising the nose of the airplane. Impact with the ground occurred before the unusual attitude recovery was completed.
Probable Cause:
PROBABLE CAUSE: "The failure of the flight crew to properly recognize or recover in a timely manner from the unusual aircraft attitude that resulted from the captain's apparent spatial disorientation, resulting from physiological factors and/or a failed attitude director."
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Classification:
Loss of situational awareness ADI issues
Loss of control
Sources:
» ICAO Summary 2/93 (#43)» NTSB/AAR-92/05
Photos
accident date: 15-02-1992
type: McDonnell Douglas DC-8-63F
registration: N794AL
Map
This map shows the airport of departure and the intended destination of the flight. The line between the airports does not display the exact flight path.
Distance from Seattle/Tacoma International Airport, WA to Toledo-Express Airport, OH as the crow flies is 3066 km (1916 miles).
Accident location: Exact; as reported in the official accident report.
Distance from Seattle/Tacoma International Airport, WA to Toledo-Express Airport, OH as the crow flies is 3066 km (1916 miles).
Accident location: Exact; as reported in the official accident report.
This information is not presented as the Flight Safety Foundation or the Aviation Safety Network’s opinion as to the cause of the accident. It is preliminary and is based on the facts as they are known at this time.
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