USAir Crew Did Not Hear Tower’s Wind-Shear Alert

The captain and first officer who survived the crash of a USAir flight told investigators on Tuesday that they tried to avoid storm pockets as they landed the plane and did not hear an on-board alarm warning of a dangerous wind shear.

Capt. Michael R. Greenlee and First Officer James Hayes were “cooperative and very helpful” in separate interviews with National Transportation Safety Board investigators, said John Hammerschmidt, an NTSB board member.

Hammerschmidt related the pilots’ descriptions of the last few moments of Saturday’s Flight 1016 from Columbia, S.C. The crash killed 37 of the 57 people on board.

The pilots said they noticed a concentration of storms to the south and east of Charlotte-Douglas International Airport as they descended toward landing.

“They agreed they would turn right, which is west, to stay away from those cells,” Hammerschmidt said.

While still two miles from the airport, the DC-9 passed through rain that quickly turned violent. The air traffic controller announced a wind-shear alert. The captain decided to abort the landing when the plane was just 200 feet off the runway, a maneuver called a “go-around.”

“The crew did a go-around . . . because of the heavy rain, a possible wet runway, the lack of visibility and the wind reports,” Hammerschmidt said.

The pilots said Hayes gave the engines maximum power, turned right and turned the nose up.

The plane climbed to 350 feet, but the pilots “felt a severe sink rate,” which would be expected if they encountered a wind shear, Hammerschmidt said. Wind shear is a sudden shift in wind speed and direction due to a rapid downward rush of cooled air.

“Neither pilot recalled hearing the on-board wind-shear alert activated.” Hammerschmidt said.

The tower warned the pilots of the possibility of a wind shear less than two minutes before the crash.

Greenlee and Hayes were released from a hospital Monday. Fourteen people remained hospitalized.