N957AT

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

On March 26, 2003, about 2239 eastern standard time, a Boeing 717-200, N957AT, operated by AirTran Airways as flight 356, received minor damage when the left side power control distribution power unit (PCDU) failed while on approach to land at LaGuardia Airport (LGA), Flushing, New York. During a subsequent emergency evacuation, 1 passenger was seriously injured, and 22 passengers received minor injuries. There were no injuries to the 2 pilots, 3 flight attendants, and 55 passengers. Night visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the scheduled passenger flight. An instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan had been filed for the flight that departed from The William B Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Atlanta, Georgia, and was conducted under 14 CFR Part 121.

According to flightcrew interviews and documents from Air Tran airways, the en route part of the flight was without incident. Upon arrival in the New York area, the flight was radar vectored for the ILS runway 04 approach. The in-range checklist was completed and the landing weight was determined to be 97,000 pounds. The Vmin speed on approach was 135 knots, and the Vref with 40 degrees of flaps was 130 knots.

The flight was cleared for the ILS runway 4 approach, and instructed to contact LaGuardia control tower. After establishing contact with the control tower, the pilots were told that they were number 3 for the runway, following a Boeing 757, and that the braking action was reported as good by a preceding MD-80.

At 2239:16, the CVR recorded two thumps and two clicks on all channels.

The co-pilot called out the left generator was off, followed by the captain who reported they were, "...losing everything." The APU was started and the crew commented that they had lost all of their busses also. The cockpit area microphone (CAM), recorded the crew alerting and warning system (CAWS) stabilizer alert, "stabilizer motion" which repeated seven times. The co-pilot called, "select FADEC alternate" and advised the captain that he had manual throttles.

At 2239:42, the captain stated, "kill that light out of my face." The co-pilot acknowledged the captain's request, and then asked, "are you moving the stabilizer?" The captain replied that he was, "...not doing anything. I've lost everything." The co-pilot then stated, "generator left off." followed by the captain stating, "kill, kill this light...." to which, the co-pilot replied, "alright."

At 2240:00 the CAM recorded the CAWS stabilizer alert again. The co-pilot then tried to reset the generator, and the captain called, "there's the runway. I'm landing the airplane," followed by a request for landing gear down, and the landing checklist. The co-pilot reported that the auxiliary hydraulic pump had failed, followed by the captain who asked for the landing gear to be lowered. This was followed by the sound of a click and increased air noise similar to landing gear being operated.

At 2240:26, the captain questioned his Vref speed of 140 knots, and the co-pilot replied, "roger that." The captain then stated, "we don't have any idea if the gear's down, do we?", to which the co-pilot replied, "not yet, no. Weird huh."

At 2240:37, the flight was cleared to land by the control tower and told that the winds were from 010 degrees at 13 knots.

At 2240:45, the co-pilot said, "I smell something too, don't you."

At 2241:04, the captain said, "go to flaps forty." This was acknowledged by the co-pilot.

At 2241:08, the CAM recorded a sound similar to the CAWS landing gear alert, which started, and continued to the end of the recording. The CAM also recorded a mechanical voice, which stated, "one thousand [feet]."

At 2241:10, the captain stated, "you smell something burning? I think we have a fire." The co-pilot replied, "I smell something weird...no way to tell if landing gear down. A few seconds later the co-pilot stated, "we lost everything, that's for sure. Your speed's pretty damn high.", to which the captain replied, "that's all right...."

At 2241:34, the captain stated, "tell him we're declaring an emergency. We have an electrical problem." The co-pilot told the control tower that they had an electrical emergency. The captain further stated, "tell him to send the equipment", and the co-pilot transmitted to the control tower,"...we might have a possible fire...we're landing on runway four."

At 2241:58, the captain stated, "all right, we'll stay at this altitude." The co-pilot replied, "roger that. I wouldn't go any lower." At 2242:02, the CAM recorded a mechanical voice, which stated, "minimums." At 2242:04, the captain stated, "...we may have to evacuate the airplane." This was acknowledged by the co-pilot.

At 2242:09, the co-pilot stated, "I wouldn't get any lower." and the captain replied, "...we're all right...". At 2242:12, the co-pilot stated, "okay, your looking good. You're definitely fast. Don't go any faster." The captain replied, "I know, I know that." At the same time as the captain's reply, the CAM recorded a mechanical voice, which stated, "one hundred."

Between 2242:19 and 2242:25, the CAM recorded a mechanical voice calling out "fifty", "forty", "thirty", "twenty", "ten", and "five."

At 2242:25, the CAM recorded a sound similar to the airplane touching down on the runway, and at 2242:28, the CAM recorded a "thump" similar to nose landing gear contact with the runway. At 2242:36, the co-pilot called ,"reverse," and one second later he called, "eighty knots."

At 2242:50, the captain stated, "tell him we need the fire trucks out here. I think we may have a fi, some kind of fire." At 2242:52, the co-pilot transmitted to the control tower, "...tower, Citrus three fifty six, uh, please run the fire trucks out here. We are smelling electrical smoke." The local controller asked the pilots to pull all the way onto taxiway BRAVO, and acknowledged their request for fire trucks.

At 2243:04, the captain stated, "get, get the door, get the door unlocked." The local controller asked the pilots to hold short of taxiway FOXTROT, and this was acknowledged. The local controller then instructed the pilot to contact ground control, and the co-pilot replied, "sir, I can't..." The captain then transmitted, "We, we don't have time for that sir. I may have to evacuate. You're gonna have to just get some people out here. The local controller replied, "Okay, you can stop right there if you need to and do what you have to do."

At 2243:37, the captain stated, "we got some kind of fire guys. Get ready to get out of here. A flight attendant stated, "we have no lights", and the captain said, "just, just um all right just hold still, all right, just hold still, hold still."

At 2243:43, an announcement was made on the public address system which stated, "Ladies and gentlemen, we need everybody in their seats please...."

At 2243:44, the captain asked, "do you have any emergency lights?", and the co-pilot replied, "nothing." At 2243:47, the captain stated, "alright, evacuate the airplane. Tell 'em we've gotta evacuate the airplane." At 2243:48, the CAM reported a flight attendant stating, "evacuate, evacuate."

At 2243:50, the captain stated, "All right do your, lets do the checklist." The co-pilot replied, "okay."

The transcript ended at 2243:52

The captain reported that after he stopped the airplane, he exited his seat and opened the cockpit door to assess the situation. The cabin was dark. There was a stronger burning smell in the cabin than they had experienced in the cockpit. The captain then ordered an emergency evacuation of the airplane. The first officer reported that he completed the emergency evacuation checklist, which included resetting the wing flaps to 25 degrees.

The flight attendants reported that on approach, the cabin lights extinguished, and the emergency lights illuminated. Then after a few minutes, the emergency lights extinguished, and the cabin was without illumination. In addition, the L1 and R1 flight attendants noticed a burning smell. The lead flight attendant (L1) reported that when she punched the buttons for the public address system, the buttons did not illuminate on the handset used for making public address announcements and communicating with the cockpit, and she perceived that the handset was inoperative. After touchdown, the lead flight attendant exited her seat, and tried banging on the cockpit door and speaking loudly to get the attention of the flight crew. The pilots reported that they did not hear the flight attendant pounding on the door or speaking loudly.

About the same time that the captain had opened the cockpit door to check the cabin, the forward flight attendants reported hearing the aft flight attendant make an announcement using the PA system for the passengers to remain seated. The lead flight attendant then tried her handset again, and was able to make an announcement using the PA to begin the evacuation.

The L2 flight attendant at the aft station jettisoned the tail cone, but could not determine if the slide had properly inflated. She then directed the passengers in the aft part of the cabin to the forward over wing exits and forward doors. She exited the cabin at the left rear overwing exit, and then re-entered the cabin. At that time, she heard a "pop" which she associated with the inflation of the tailcone slide.

After the passengers and flight attendants exited the cabin, the captain went to the rear of the airplane and then back forward to ensure no one was still onboard. At that time, firemen were at the forward door of the airplane. The forward slide was released, and the firemen gained access to the cabin using ladders.

The accident occurred during the hours of darkness at 40 degrees, 46.67 minutes north latitude, and 73 degrees, 52.54 minutes west longitude.

PERSONNEL INFORMATION

Captain

The captain held an airline transport pilot ce...