Zero Hour - Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 529 (A Wounded Bird)

Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 529 (Callsign: ACEY 529) was an Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia aircraft that crashed near Carrollton, Georgia on August 21, 1995. Nine of the 29 passengers and crew on board were killed as a result of the accident. The accident bore similarities with Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 2311, which had occurred four years earlier, and resulted in the deaths of everyone on board. The inquiries of both crashes concluded that design flaws in the aircraft's propellers were to blame. Flight 529 left the ramp area at Atlanta at 12:10 Eastern Daylight Time, and took off at 12:23. At 12:43:25, while climbing through 18,100 feet, the occupants of the aircraft heard a thud which First Officer Warmerdam later described as sounding like "a baseball bat striking an aluminum trash can. One of the blades of the Hamilton Standard propeller on the left engine had failed and the entire assembly had become dislodged, deforming the engine nacelle and distorting the wing's profile. Although the EMB 120, like all transport-category multi-engine airplanes, is designed to fly with one engine inoperative, the distortion of the engine resulted in excessive drag and loss of lift on the left side of the aircraft, causing it to rapidly lose altitude. The flight crew initially tried to return to Atlanta for an emergency landing but the rapid descent resulted in them being diverted to West Georgia Regional Airport. The airplane was unable to stay in the air long enough and the pilots began searching for an open space to make an emergency landing. At 12:52:45 the airplane struck the tops of the trees and crashed into a field in Carroll County, Georgia near the farming community of Burwell and the city of Carrollton. All of the passengers and crew aboard Flight 529 survived the initial impact; the fatalities were the result of a post-crash fire. The fire started approximately one minute after impact and an oxygen bottle behind the First Officer's seat leaked, contributing to the strength of the fire. Despite a dislocated shoulder, First Officer Warmerdam used the cockpit fire axe to cut through the thick cockpit glass. David McCorkell, a surviving passenger, later assisted by pulling the axe out of the cockpit through the hole Warmerdam had created and struck the glass from the outside in order to increase the size of the hole and help Warmerdam escape. While he was being rescued, Warmerdam said to fire chief Steve Chadwick, "Tell my wife, Amy, that I love her." Chadwick replied, "No sir, you tell her that you love her, because I'm getting you out of here." The emergency crews successfully pulled Warmerdam out of the aircraft, but Captain Gannaway was knocked unconscious in the crash landing and never regained consciousness, eventually succumbing to the fire. In an ambulance, Warmerdam consoled paramedic Joan Crawford, who believed Warmerdam would soon die. Crawford had undressed him to cool him down and pinned his badge to his underwear, to help with identification later. Despite his injuries, Warmerdam survived the plane crash. In addition to Captain Gannaway, seven passengers died as a result of the crash and subsequent fire, including three who died within thirty days of the crash, bringing the official death toll to eight. A ninth victim died four months after the crash from severe burn injuries. None of the passengers or crew escaped uninjured; eight had minor injuries. Many of the passengers suffered survivor's guilt; some believed that they should have assisted other passengers. Mary Jean Adair, one of the survivors, died of a heart attack eight weeks after the crash. She was included in a dedication to the people killed by the crash in a memorial service at an elementary school gymnasium some years later.