A Federal Aviation Administration engineer, under persistent questioning by safety investigators, admitted Thursday that an FAA-approved flight simulator ”is not totally realistic” in mimicking conditions that occur when a plane suffers a major engine malfunction at takeoff.
James Copeland, an expert on flight simulation, testified that the DC-9 simulator fails to produce the lateral movements and the feeling of deceleration that accompany a ”catastrophic” engine failure in a real DC-9. Two Midwest Express Airlines pilots who were trained on the simulator were at the controls last September when a Midwest Express DC-9 crashed after takeoff in Milwaukee, killing all 31 persons aboard. Just after the jet lifted off the runway, a faulty part exploded through the right engine of the twin-engine craft, disabling the power plant.
DC-9s are designed to fly with only one engine functioning and the National Transportation Safety Board is conductioning a hearing here into the cause of the accident.
Copeland testified under subpoena after his superiors sought to prevent his attendance at the hearing. It was the first time ever that the safety board had to use its legal power to force an FAA official to speak at an accident inquiry.
Jim Burnett, saftey board chairman, strongly implied that Copeland had made critical remarks about the simulator in a conversation with safety board investigators earlier this month.
”He did express some opinions . . . to us when we initially interviewed him in Atlanta,” Burnett said.
However, on Wednesday, after the subpoena had been served, Burnett said he was told by an FAA official that Copeland ”might want to recant” some of his earlier statements.
Copeland testified Thursday that he had overstated the simulator`s shortcomings in Atlanta. Only after a barrage of questions by safety board investigators did he acknowledge that the simulator does not perfectly mirror real-life conditions of engine failure at takeoff.
