Union Investigation Clears Pilots in Skid, Crash of USAir Jetliner

The Air Line Pilots Assn. on Monday blamed mechanical problems for the crash of a USAir jet that skidded off a La Guardia Airport runway last fall, killing two passengers.

In a report issued a day before the National Transportation Safety Board is scheduled to begin hearings into the Sept. 20, 1989, crash, the union exonerated the plane’s cockpit crew, whose performance had been the subject of intense scrutiny in the days after the accident.

“We don’t think the crew did anything wrong,” said Don Skiados, an ALPA spokesman. “We think that any other crew in the same situation would have acted in the same way and done exactly what they did.”

Flight 5050, a Boeing 737-400 bound for Charlotte, N.C., and carrying 63 passengers and crew, slid off a rain-slicked runway and into the East River. Two passengers died and 45 people were injured.

Officials speculated that human error might have caused the accident, and the flying licenses of the pilot and the co-pilot were suspended pending the results of the NTSB investigation.

The union has paid for legal counsel for the pilot, Michael Martin, and the co-pilot, Constantine Kleissas, who were expected to testify this morning.

Ted Lopatkiewicz, an NTSB spokesman, said he had yet not seen the ALPA report.

The ALPA investigation found that a mechanical malfunction or design flaw in the cockpit instrument that moves the 737-400’s rudder caused a “critical problem” that forced the jet to veer dangerously to the left as it was speeding down the runway, said Donald McClure, an ALPA official.

McClure said Boeing has acknowledged the problem in the instrument and sent a bulletin to air carriers last month.