AIR SAFETY WEEK, Feb

AIR SAFETY WEEK, Feb. 3, 2003

• Deadly comparison. Consider the parallels between the Feb. 16, 2000, crash of an Emery Worldwide Airlines DC-8 freighter and the Jan. 8 crash of an Air Midwest twin-turboprop:

√ Loading/weight and balance questions.

√ Third party maintenance repair work.

√ Suspected catastrophic malfunction of horizontal stabilizer.

√ Possible pre-accident data recorder indicators showing the crash airplane’s elevators moved in ways "inconsistent" with what might be expected.

√ Aircraft destroyed in fireball and reduced to ashes shortly after takeoff.

√ No survivors.

Emery Flight 17, Air Midwest Flight 5481: déjà vu.