Al Haynes

I chose to describe Capt. Al Haynes as an individual that is influential in present day aviation. Mr. Haynes has been retired since 1991, but still spends about 100 days a year traveling the country giving presentations on United flight 232, which he piloted on July 19^th. 1989.

            Mr. Haynes attended Texas A&M served four years in the military before joining United Airlines for the next 35 years of his life. He was an engineer in a DC-8, flew the DC-6,7,and 8, before being a co-pilot in the 727 for eight years, 727 captain, DC-10 Co-Pilot and then picking up the DC-10 Captain job. At his retirement, Al Haynes had completed over 27,000 flight hours.

            I consider him to be influential because, before attending EMU, I was not familiar with this crash. People talk about many other aircraft emergencies, especially the Hudson River event in 2009, which was also incredible in its own right, but to me that does not even compare to what Al Haynes, his crew, and his resources on board flight 232 accomplished. The fact that they successfully controlled an aircraft to the ground without any hydraulic control and saved many more lives than seemed possible is unbelievable to me. Especially since not one out of 57 crews that replicated the incident could control the aircraft to the ground as they did in the real life situation.

            Mr. Haynes and this crew contributed to the aviation industry in a very important way, even though that contribution came at the cost in the lives that were lost, but the procedures and practices that were implemented into aviation since this incident have undoubtedly made the industry safer and more efficient. Cockpit/Crew Resource Management was a big practice that came from this incident. The communication, decision making, assertiveness, leadership and situational awareness on the ground and in the air in this incident highlighted ways to use all available resources to help minimize loss in future aviation operations. The guidelines and procedures that evolved from this accident are still practiced and continuously developing today. Along with the amount of beneficial information we are able to learn about from this information, Mr. Haynes himself is a major contributor to aviation. The days he spends traveling and giving his presentations on this incident benefit any and all who can experience them. He is committed to sharing his experience, and doing what he can to help equip present pilots and crews with the skills and insight his crew used to minimize the loss from flight 232, to hopefully be able to apply them when needed in their careers.

http://www.avweb.com/news/profiles/182969-1.html