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Saudi Arabia Flight 163 Term Paper

¶ … Saudi Arabian Airlines Flight 163 departed Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport after a flight from Karachi, Pakistan ("Wikipedia," 2004). There were 287 passengers and 14 crewmembers aboard the L1011 aircraft that was bound for Jiddah. The aircraft was climbing through 15,000 feet, approximately seven minutes into the flight when both aural and visual indicators alerted the crew that there was smoke in the aft cargo compartment of the plane (Kilroy, 2004). Despite a safe landing, due to the lack of leadership and prudent actions by the Captain, all aboard perished due to poisoning from the noxious smoke. Saudi Arabian Airlines Flight 163

Just before 10:00 P.M., on August 19, 1980, Saudi Arabian Airlines Flight 163 departed Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport after a flight from Karachi, Pakistan ("Wikipedia," 2004). There were 287 passengers and 14 crewmembers aboard the L1011 aircraft that was...

The aircraft was climbing through 15,000 feet, approximately seven minutes into the flight when both aural and visual indicators alerted the crew that there was smoke in the aft cargo compartment of the plane (Kilroy, 2004).
Over the course of the next four minutes, the crew worked on confirming the warnings they were receiving and looked up the smoke alert procedure in the aircraft's manual. During this time, the Captain made the decision to return immediately to the airport. Despite the number 2 engine thrust lever sticking, and the crew needing to shut it down, the aircraft landed back at Riyadh, safely. However, instead of immediately stopping the plane, the crew decided to continue to taxi for approximately 2 minutes and 40 seconds (Kilroy, 2004).

For approximately 3 minutes and 15 seconds, the engines remained on, preventing rescue crew from entering the aircraft. In addition, the Riyadh…

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Review of the cockpit voice recorder determined that a break down in leadership, communication and cockpit resource management lead to the preventable tragedy. From the first warning indicators, crew coordination began to fall apart. The Captain insisted on not only flying the aircraft, but also investigating the problem and how to fix it. The First Officer was not experienced on the L1011, and therefore was not able to assist the Captain fly the plane, nor did he monitor communications or the systems. The Flight Engineer searched the aircraft manual trying to find the smoke alert procedure (Kilroy, 2004).

To make matters worse, the Captain did not warn the flight attendants to prepare for an emergency evacuation, to the contrary he ordered the flight crew to remain on the plane. After the aircraft had come to a complete stop, one last transmission was received indicating that an emergency evacuation was going to take place. However, the crew and passengers of Flight 163 did not have a chance to conduct that evacuation. By that time, the fire had spread so rapidly forward that every person on the plane had become trapped (Kilroy, 2004).

It seems almost unfathomable that a plane could land safely with all aboard alive, yet no one escaped. From the beginning the Captain appears to not want to take the situation as serious as it truly was. When told that there is smoke first
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