Ryan International Airlines Flight 590

Aircraft The aircraft involved was a 22-year-old McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15RC (Rapid Change) registered as N565PC. The -15 is a subvariant of the series 10 of DC-9s. The accident aircraft first flew in 1968 and was delivered to Continental Airlines as a passenger aircraft in July of that same year, registered as N8919. The aircraft operated with Continental for five years. In October 1973, the aircraft was delivered to Hughes Airwest and re-registered as N9351. In October 1980, the aircraft was transferred to Republic Airlines, which operated the aircraft until June 1984, when it was converted into a freighter and delivered to Purolater Courier. Three months later, the aircraft was registered as N565PC. In September 1987, the aircraft was transferred to Emery Worldwide then to Emery Worldwide Airlines (EWA) in 1989. Ryan International Airlines began to operate the aircraft in 1989, though it was owned by EWA at the time of the accident. Crew The captain was 44-year-old David Reay. He had flown with Ryan Air International since 1989 and logged 10,505 flight hours, including 505 hours on the DC-9. Reay was described "as a pilot with average skills who took criticism well," and "having very good command authority and being smooth on the controls." However, Reay had been involved in disciplinary action at the airline twice. The first was in August 1990, when he landed an aircraft without computing the proper data. The second was when he gained access to the jumpseat of an aircraft operated by a different airline by using an unauthorized identity card. Reay received a written warning on the first offense and a verbal warning on the second. Reay had also been involved in a business venture where he distributed literature claiming that he was in a partnership with the airline. After a talk with the airline's president, Reay reclaimed the literature. Reay had previously made a similar claim with another flight position, which resulted in him being removed from it. Despite this activity, Reay had no criminal arrests, nor had he been involved any vehicular accidents. The first officer was 28-year-old Richard Duney Jr., who was far less experienced than captain Reay, having only been with the airline since January 28, 1991, less than a month before the accident. However, prior to joining RIA, he had been a pilot for a commuter airline from 1986 to 1989 and had served as a first officer on the DC-9 with USAir, but was laid off in 1991. Duney had 3,820 flight hours, with 510 of them on the DC-9. The airline's chief pilot described Duney as "very personable and eager to do a good job." However, on March 28, 1990, Duney was involved in a car accident, though no charges were filed. Duney did not have any criminal history. Weather At 23:50, the National Weather Service (NWS) issued the following weather report at CLE: The National Aviation Weather Unit (NAWU) warned pilots flying into Ohio that there were icing conditions and turbulence. No AIRMETs (airman's meteorological information) were in effect. The NWS forecast at CLE was as follows: In other words, the weather was dangerously cold with the temperature at , enough to cause ice to accumulate on aircraft, and the dew point at . There was light snow and strong winds blowing at , increasing the risk of windshear. Pilots could only operate under instrument flight rules until 14:00 the next day. == Accident ==

At 00:06 on February 17, first officer Duney requested departure clearance from air traffic control (ATC). The controller stated: At 00:08, due to the freezing temperatures and snow, the pilots activated the engine anti-ice system, which uses engine heat to prevent sensors from freezing, ensuring accurate instrument readings. The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) recorded the following conversation snippet (CAM is short for Cockpit Area Microphone, RDO is short for radio, -1 is the captain, -2 is the first officer, and -? indicates an unidentified voice): At 00:09, first officer Dunney requested taxi clearance. The tower controller instructed the flight to "taxi [to] runway two three left via Juliet and the ramp." A minute later, the controller reminded the flight about the braking conditions (no flights had landed while Flight 590 was on the ground): At 00:14, Continental Airlines Flight 1238 informed the tower controller that they were on approach to the same runway. The controller cleared Flight 1238 to land, informing them about Flight 590's braking conditions. At 00:17 Flight 590 lined up on runway 23L, and one minute later, at 00:18, was cleared for takeoff: According to the CVR, captain Reay called out "watch out" three consecutive times. Both engines began to experience compressor stalls and the stick shaker activated, both lasting for about three seconds. The aircraft rolled 90° to the left and entered a stall. At 00:18:57, the aircraft crashed back onto runway 23L, the left wing contacted the ground first, followed by the rest of the aircraft. == Investigation ==

Less than an hour after the accident occurred, the NTSB was notified about it. A go-team traveled to Cleveland four hours later. Following the Flight 1713 accident, McDonnell Douglas presented a paper warning about ice accumulation on DC-9s. Ryan International Airlines' DC-9s flight crew operations manual (FCOM) required the first officer to inspect the aircraft for ice after landing in icing conditions. However, according to ground witnesses, neither crew member left the aircraft while it was parked. The NTSB believed that this was because of the flight crew's previous experience with larger variants of the DC-9, which have leading edge devices and are less vulnerable to icing conditions, and possibly the fact that no other flight requested deicing before takeoff. The NTSB even considered fatigue as a reason the crew did not inspect the aircraft (as well as if it was a factor in the accident altogether), the crew had been on the same flight schedule on the same route for six days and captain Reay may have been experiencing a cold; the demanding schedules can hamper illness recovery and contribute to fatigue. Nevertheless, the NTSB had insufficient evidence and was unable to determine if fatigue did indeed play a role in the accident. Other views NTSB chairman James L. Kolstad, and vice chairman Susan Coughlin both gave dissenting statements; both of them agreed that pilot error was the cause of the crash, though they also stated that the failure of the airline industry as a whole to properly understand deicing was a cause of the accident. == See also ==