Midwest Airlines - Incidents and Accidents

Incidents and Accidents

• On September 6, 1985, Midwest Express Flight 105 crashed upon takeoff from Milwaukee.As of 2008. This is Midwest's first and only fatal accident. The accident happened when a Douglas DC-9-14, N100ME, of the airline crashed while taking off from Milwaukee, bound for Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport. According to NTSB reports, the crash was caused by improper pilot reaction when the plane's right engine failed due to stress corrosion cracking. The improper flight control inputs caused an uncommanded roll and accelerated stall. The 31 people on board died.
• On September 11, 2001, Midwest Airlines Flight 7 (Midwest 7) narrowly missed a collision with hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 over the Hudson River at approximately 09:01 a.m. local time. The pilot of Midwest 7 was forced to manoeuver the aircraft, under the direction of an air traffic controller, out of the flight path of Flight 175. One minute later, Flight 175 hit the South Tower of the World Trade Center killing all 65 passengers and crew on board and resulting in the collapse of the South Tower.

• On November 13, 2007, a Midwest Connect flight from Milwaukee bound for Dayton was in a near-collision with a United Express jet heading to Chicago from Greensboro while flying over northern Indiana. Air traffic controllers with Chicago Center directed the Midwest flight to begin its descent while traveling head-on towards the United Express CRJ a few thousand feet below. The planes came as close as 1.3 miles (2.1 km) apart horizontally and 600 feet (180 m) vertically. The Midwest Connect Dornier 328JET was just above the United Express aircraft and descending while they were closing in on each other.. An audible TCAS alarm in the Midwest cockpit alerted the pilots of the proximity, allowing them to pull up in time to avert disaster.
• On July 8, 2008, a Midwest charter MD-81 carrying Presidential candidate Barack Obama made an emergency landing at Lambert Field in St. Louis, Missouri, after an evacuation slide inside the plane underneath the tail in the airstair passage way deployed, interfering with the plane's control cables, which affected the control of the pitch of the plane. The pilot radioed the control tower "at this time we would like to declare an emergency and also have CFR standing by in St. Louis." A preliminary NTSB report said it detected "marks consistent with rubbing of elevator control cables" and a broken railing that "impinged upon elevator control cables." No one was injured. At the time, Obama's main campaign plane a North American Airlines Boeing 757 on lease by the dual Obama and McCain campaign contributing MatlinPatterson hedge fund firm and owner directors of Global Aero Logistics d/b/a North American Airlines, was being overhauled. It went back into campaign service on July 20.