On February 16, 2000, Emery flight 17, a DC-8, took off from Sacramento en route to Dayton. Two minutes later, the massive jet plowed into a salvage yard. National network news provided live broadcasts of the fiery aftermath. It looked like hell on earth. The pictures were telling: None of the crewmembers escaped alive.

According to a National Transportation Safety Board Investigation Update, an exam of the wreckage found indications that part of the DC-8's mechanical flight controls may not have been connected prior to the flight. Key flight control components of that particular airplane had been overhauled by a Federal Aviation Administration-approved repair station a mere three months before the crash.

On August 13, 2001, the FAA finally "grounded" Emery Worldwide Airlines due significant unresolved safety issues that included "mechanical irregularities" and "operating unairworthy aircraft." Upon making this announcement, the FAA basked in headlines such as "Emery bows to the FAA." When they stopped Emery's operations, the FAA fashioned itself as being bold and decisive, reining in an airline brazenly out of compliance. This representation of the FAA, however, rang hollow for family members of the victims of Emery 17.

Emery 17 is not the only DC-8 cargo jet in recent years to wipe out its entire aircrew shortly after takeoff. Thirty months earlier in Miami, Fine Air flight 101 slammed into the ground, burst into flames, and killed five people. The probable cause finding included the "failure of the FAA to ensure that known cargo-related deficiencies were corrected." Many believe the FAA’s failure to provide adequate oversight and its failure to enforce Federal Aviation Regulations are direct causes of the Emery tragedy.

Almost immediately after Emery 17 crashed, safety groups and families of the crews pushed for public hearings on the Emery accident, and the NTSB announced that official hearings would take place in August 2001 in Washington (they still have not occurred) and would center on contract maintenance and oversight by "airline and FAA personnel." Recall, these were the identical issues for which the NTSB blasted the FAA in the aftermath of ValuJet’s 1996 crash.

It is no secret the FAA expected a bashing at the Emery hearings. One major newspaper reported on a private meeting of 20 top FAA officials in July 2000. According to the article, a top FAA administrator referred to his concern over the public's perception that it takes a major accident before the FAA addresses a safety concern. The article quoted the official saying, "the Alaska [Airlines] hearing will be our Congress telling us that we're not doing our job. That will be the message ... on Emery." And another national newspaper referenced the FAA’s failure in the ValuJet accident and quoted NTSB member John Goglia as saying the Emery 17 accident "has a number of similarities to ValuJet," and "we went through this drill already. Why are we back here again?"

The FAA ignored pleas by Emery’s own aircrews in the months leading up to Emery flight 17’s crash. These specific warnings placed FAA officials squarely on notice and provided ample evidence that without involvement from regulators, a catastrophic event such as Emery flight 17 was inevitable.

In a 1998 letter to the FAA, Capt. Tom Rachford, speaking for the Emery pilots’ union, wrote, "Our maintenance has dramatically fallen off. … I can’t say it any clearer: This airline is going to put a hole in the ground and kill someone. Please don’t let this fall upon deaf ears."

Just five months before the fatal crash, the Emery pilot’s group pleaded yet again with FAA leadership. They wrote: "EWA is out of the regulator’s eye. … Why are the authorities continuing to turn a blind eye? The lower echelon of the regulatory agencies have substantiated our concerns. … However, it is the upper echelon that appears to be dragging its feet. … If we have an accident in the near future, the subsequent investigation will show sainthood on the part of ValuJet when compared to Emery Worldwide Airlines. … Emery crews are living on borrowed time."

It seems our government was explicitly warned that the stage was set for disaster at Emery well before three good men were killed in such an unspeakable fashion. It seems our government had advanced knowledge.

The timing of the FAA’s "grounding" of Emery was scandalous. The record shows, and is supported even by the FAA’s own inspections prior to February 2000, that regulatory enforcement action should have occurred years ago, before the Emery flight 17 accident.

Having missed the opportunity to act prior to the Emery flight 17 accident, the FAA conveniently waited to ground the airline until nine days before the scheduled start of public hearings that would have cast the FAA in a very unfavorable light.

Moreover, by waiting until just before the hearings, the FAA effectively derailed the hearings, averted the impending public criticism and avoided being chastised once again for failing to enforce its own directives.

According to news reports, "Both the FAA and EWA say the sudden grounding is the result of what inspectors found during the past 18 months, not because of any new findings." The FAA must have had cause to ground Emery much earlier than a mere nine days prior to the start of the hearings.

The timing by the FAA was contrived. Instead of the FAA getting rave reviews for its tough handling of Emery Worldwide Airlines, the FAA should have had its back up against the wall answering questions at the NTSB hearings about why it didn’t close down Emery before flight 17 crashed two years ago this month.

With perfect timing, the FAA concealed its failure to regulate Emery Worldwide Airlines. By grounding Emery when it did, it avoided answering why it dropped the ball by ignoring deficiencies that predated a tragic crash. The crew of Emery 17 deserved so much more from their own government.

In May, 2000, the Chairman of the NTSB personally assured the family of Emery 17’s Captain, in writing, "there will be a hearing on the Emery accident." In March 2001, the Acting Chairman of the NTSB personally testified before Congress that Emery 17 public hearings were forthcoming. In July 2001, the NTSB announced to the public that hearings would occur in August 2001. We are still waiting.

Its been two long years since Emery 17 was transformed into a heap of ashes and we are still waiting for the overdue hearings. The under regulated, rapidly expanding air cargo industry is also still waiting for the overdue hearings. And now, according to hard-to-fathom media reports, the Board is considering scrapping the hearings altogether. The need for the hearings over time has only intensified, given the now-well-documented, extensive notice that was provided to the FAA leadership and Emery Worldwide Airlines prior to the crash of flight 17.

The NTSB should convene the public hearings into the Emery 17 accident posthaste. Persuasive support for this proposition can be found among the NTSB’s own descriptive documents:

The NTSB is held in high esteem by the public. But even such a popular agency will not maintain its stature while failing to honor its commitments and failing to fulfill its responsibilities.

The air cargo industry is the fastest-growing segment of the commercial airline industry. It is also famous for being under regulated. FAA and airline oversight of third-party maintenance stations also is widely considered inadequate by government and industry experts.

The NTSB never has convened public hearings on an air-cargo-only accident. The board’s earlier decision and promise to convene the Emery hearings suggested to many a turning point and an indication that substandard oversight, inadequate maintenance and unsafe operational practices would no longer be ignored.

Some industry watchers believe the delay in the public hearings stems from criticism that the NTSB has gone too far in connecting crashes to poor airline management and lax FAA oversight. True or not, one thing is certain: Giving public-relations cover to the FAA is plainly not in the NTSB’s charter. Anything less than thorough public hearings will constitute an abdication of the board’s responsibility to hold industry and government accountable.

There are those who think Emery 17 public hearings are no longer necessary since Emery Worldwide remains grounded by the FAA. But although Emery Worldwide is no longer flying, the FAA is still regulating; its practices should be reviewed. And so should the practices of airline maintenance contractors. Additionally, Emery Worldwide retains its certification, suggesting to some that the news of the company’s demise is greatly exaggerated. Finally, Emery Worldwide’s parent company continues to fly Emery Worldwide freight aboard a large fleet of its own 727 cargo jets operated by a company other than Emery Worldwide.

It was only by the grace of God that both Emery 17 and Fine Air 101 did not take the lives of hundreds of Americans residing in densely populated greater Sacramento and greater Miami.

The events of September 11th showed us what can happen when a large fuel-filled jet crashes into a densely populated region. Every day air cargo operations occur in and around every major city in this country. The U.S. government must not wait for another massive air cargo disaster to force the NTSB into action. The NTSB must be proactive and must not allow the following words of a frustrated Emery pilot to be prophetic: "What’s it going to take, one of the these things going down in a school yard?" The NTSB must now honor its commitments and fulfill its responsibilities.

Fine Air 101 and Emery 17 will likely not be the last fatal air cargo disasters in the air cargo industry. The NTSB must not fail to respond even when provided with ample notice and warning. It is completely unacceptable for the NTSB to even contemplate not convening quickly Emery flight 17 public hearings, consistent with its previous personal assurances and public statements.

This is a race against time: The NTSB must convene the hearings on Emery 17 before another air cargo blunder kills yet again.

By Fred Chesbro (professional pilot and brother-in-law of Emery 17 Captain Kevin Stables)

Fred Chesbro

Springfield, Virginia

(703) 455-4079

Emery17Now@worldnet.att.net