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CNN Live At Daybreak
NTSB Probes Maintenance Done on Flight 5481
Aired January 10, 2003 - 06:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Could maintenance have played a role in Wednesday's deadly crash of an Air Midwest Flight 5481 in Charlotte, North Carolina? Federal investigators are looking into that possibility.
John Goglia, who is heading the NTSB's investigation into the crash, joins us live by phone from Charlotte -- good morning.
JOHN GOGLIA, NTSB: Good morning.
COSTELLO: What's the latest on the investigation?
GOGLIA: Oh yesterday we were able to accomplish quite a bit of work, you know. We have broken up into work teams looking at such things as structures and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and aircraft systems and much, much was accomplished yesterday.
COSTELLO: Could you center on the maintenance problems that may have been the reason for this crash?
GOGLIA: Well we've had -- we've had some reports that there were some work on the flight control system just two days before this crash and that work was accomplished at a facility in West Virginia. There's been conflicting reports about exactly what was done. So we have dispatched a team to that facility to talk to the people who did the work. And they've finished that -- well I -- they were scheduled to finish that work a couple of hours ago. We have not heard from them yet.
COSTELLO: And, John, we understand there was some work on the tail section of that plane. And when you recovered the flight data recorder, on that recorder there was some talk about the pilots flying in previous flights still having problems after that maintenance was done. That's very disturbing.
GOGLIA: Yes, it is very disturbing, if it's true.
COSTELLO: Who's responsible for reporting problems?
GOGLIA: Well the pilot is supposed to -- supposed to write up any problems he has. And oftentimes it's difficult for them to -- the problems to manifest themselves enough for the pilots to see them in a case like this. And it may very well be just the sensor that was bad or maybe something far worse.
COSTELLO: So something like that could have been the problem? It could have been something minor, but is that something you're looking into to see if the pilots had written up a report and if that report was paid attention to?
GOGLIA: Of course. We don't -- we look at all aspects of the operation as well as the company operating.
COSTELLO: The other disturbing report out there is that the plane was overloaded, it was too heavy to fly. In fact, we heard that a baggage -- a baggage loader refused to sign the piece of paper allowing the plane to take off. A supervisor later had to sign it in order to get the flight going. That's disturbing as well.
GOGLIA: That has proven to be not true. We interviewed the three people who loaded the airplane and that was not true. The person who was supposed to sign the sheet was in fact the one who signed the sheet.
COSTELLO: So was the plane overloaded or wasn't it then?
GOGLIA: Well we're not sure right now. But according to the paperwork, it was 100 pounds less than the maximum gross weight.
COSTELLO: So what is your best guess as to what caused this crash?
GOGLIA: Oh, it's way too early to make a guess.
COSTELLO: But you're centering on a mechanical problem right now?
GOGLIA: We are -- we have two areas that are really getting attention and that is the weight and this maintenance facility.
COSTELLO: All right.
GOGLIA: But while that is going on, we are going over the airplane with a fine tooth comb to identify anything else that may be going on.
COSTELLO: Yes, you...
GOGLIA: But we don't look at any one item at the exclusion of others. We look...
COSTELLO: We understand.
GOGLIA: ... at everything.
COSTELLO: We understand. And you do great work at the NTSB.
John Goglia, thanks for joining us live this morning on DAYBREAK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 10, 2003 - 06:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Could maintenance have played a role in Wednesday's deadly crash of an Air Midwest Flight 5481 in Charlotte, North Carolina? Federal investigators are looking into that possibility.
John Goglia, who is heading the NTSB's investigation into the crash, joins us live by phone from Charlotte -- good morning.
JOHN GOGLIA, NTSB: Good morning.
COSTELLO: What's the latest on the investigation?
GOGLIA: Oh yesterday we were able to accomplish quite a bit of work, you know. We have broken up into work teams looking at such things as structures and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and aircraft systems and much, much was accomplished yesterday.
COSTELLO: Could you center on the maintenance problems that may have been the reason for this crash?
GOGLIA: Well we've had -- we've had some reports that there were some work on the flight control system just two days before this crash and that work was accomplished at a facility in West Virginia. There's been conflicting reports about exactly what was done. So we have dispatched a team to that facility to talk to the people who did the work. And they've finished that -- well I -- they were scheduled to finish that work a couple of hours ago. We have not heard from them yet.
COSTELLO: And, John, we understand there was some work on the tail section of that plane. And when you recovered the flight data recorder, on that recorder there was some talk about the pilots flying in previous flights still having problems after that maintenance was done. That's very disturbing.
GOGLIA: Yes, it is very disturbing, if it's true.
COSTELLO: Who's responsible for reporting problems?
GOGLIA: Well the pilot is supposed to -- supposed to write up any problems he has. And oftentimes it's difficult for them to -- the problems to manifest themselves enough for the pilots to see them in a case like this. And it may very well be just the sensor that was bad or maybe something far worse.
COSTELLO: So something like that could have been the problem? It could have been something minor, but is that something you're looking into to see if the pilots had written up a report and if that report was paid attention to?
GOGLIA: Of course. We don't -- we look at all aspects of the operation as well as the company operating.
COSTELLO: The other disturbing report out there is that the plane was overloaded, it was too heavy to fly. In fact, we heard that a baggage -- a baggage loader refused to sign the piece of paper allowing the plane to take off. A supervisor later had to sign it in order to get the flight going. That's disturbing as well.
GOGLIA: That has proven to be not true. We interviewed the three people who loaded the airplane and that was not true. The person who was supposed to sign the sheet was in fact the one who signed the sheet.
COSTELLO: So was the plane overloaded or wasn't it then?
GOGLIA: Well we're not sure right now. But according to the paperwork, it was 100 pounds less than the maximum gross weight.
COSTELLO: So what is your best guess as to what caused this crash?
GOGLIA: Oh, it's way too early to make a guess.
COSTELLO: But you're centering on a mechanical problem right now?
GOGLIA: We are -- we have two areas that are really getting attention and that is the weight and this maintenance facility.
COSTELLO: All right.
GOGLIA: But while that is going on, we are going over the airplane with a fine tooth comb to identify anything else that may be going on.
COSTELLO: Yes, you...
GOGLIA: But we don't look at any one item at the exclusion of others. We look...
COSTELLO: We understand.
GOGLIA: ... at everything.
COSTELLO: We understand. And you do great work at the NTSB.
John Goglia, thanks for joining us live this morning on DAYBREAK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
