
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, September 20, 1994                   TAG: 9409220032
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE                                 LENGTH: Medium

PILOT, FIRST OFFICER TRIED BRUTE FORCE TO AVERT CRASH

INTENSE RAIN and wind shear played a role in the crash of USAir Flight 1016 in Charlotte on July 2. A hearing began Monday to look into the dynamics of the tragedy.

Airport weather conditions deteriorated ``abruptly and dramatically'' in the minutes before USAir Flight 1016 crashed in July, an air traffic controller testified Monday.

Just minutes before the crash, conditions had been so good that controller Fred Masi told the crew to make a visual landing.

``It was a normal flight, a normal final approach,'' Masi said at a National Transportation Safety Board hearing. ``Everything was by the book.''

Severe thunderstorms that moved into the area changed everything. Masi ordered an instrument landing and, despite a desperate attempt by pilots to avoid disaster, the DC-9 crashed, killing 37 passengers.

Masi was one of the first witnesses to testify at the hearing on the July 2 crash. Beforehand, the board released a stack of reports including statements from the two pilots. The firsthand accounts reveal new details about the last moments in the cockpit.

While wind shear - a sudden, dangerous shift in wind speed and direction - has gotten much attention as a probable cause of the crash, the pilots said the rain had been their last and biggest concern.

``I recall hearing ATC [air traffic control] broadcast a wind shear advisory,'' Capt. Michael R. Greenlee said in his statement to investigators. ``At about this time, rain intensity increased abruptly and dramatically. I do not ever recall seeing rain fall that heavily.''

Greenlee and First Officer James Hayes reported losing visibility completely when they had descended to about 1,200 feet. Greenlee ordered Hayes, who was at the controls, to abort the landing at full power.

``Captain Greenlee called FIRE WALL,'' Hayes said, using an aviation term for maximum power. ``He then placed his right hand over my left hand. We pushed the throttle to the fire wall.''

Gregory Feith, the chief NTSB investigator of the crash, said the board's findings to date show no indications of mechanical malfunction, but the hearing would explore how the aircraft reacted during the heavy rainstorm.

John Hammerschmidt, chairman of the NTSB's board of inquiry, emphasized that the four-day hearing was a fact-finding mission and would not end with a determination of the cause of the crash.

The hearing comes in the wake of the Sept. 8 crash of USAir Flight 427 near Pittsburgh.

So far, federal officials have no explanation why the Boeing 737-300 jetliner suddenly dropped 6,000 feet and nose-dived into a ravine at 300 mph. The tremendous force of impact shattered the plane and killed all 132 people on board.

by CNB