Shocking failure | USAir 405
Oct 19, 2026 · 41 min · 37 segments
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- EmmetHost
Oct 19, 2026 · 41 min · 37 segments
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
It was just after 8 o'clock in the evening at LaGuardia Airport when 47 passengers boarded a US Air Fokker F28.
Looking after them in the cabin were two flight attendants.
The aircraft being used for this flight was just six years old and had no reported problems.
But given the conditions on this evening, it wasn't the state of the plane that was likely to cause issues.
The temperature was one degree below freezing.
It was snowing and there was a low cloud ceiling and poor visibility.
These conditions had slowed aircraft movements down significantly on this evening, with planes forming long queues to take off.
In charge of making sure that flight 405 got safely out of this mess was 44-year-old captain Wallace Majur.
Majur was an experienced pilot.
He had close to 10,000 hours of flying time, over 2,000 of which were on the Fokker F28.
Over the years, he had also flown the Boeing 737, the DC-9, DC-6, as well as a few other aircraft.
He had also been trained to operate in the wintry conditions that blanketed the East Coast on this evening, and he had plenty of experience flying in this kind of weather.
Sitting to his right was 30-year-old First Officer John Rotuba.
Rotuba was less experienced than Madure, however he still had plenty of flying time, with over 4,500 hours under his belt.
He had only just moved to the Fokker the previous month, and so had only 29 hours on it so far.
For the crew of Flight 405, it had been a long day.
They had started it over eight hours previously in Tri-Cities, Tennessee, before flying to Charlotte, North Carolina, and then on to Jacksonville, Florida.
Owing to the weather over the east coast of the US, they were now running an hour behind schedule.
And given the amount of traffic trying to get in and out of LaGuardia, it didn't appear as though this delay was going to get any better.
After the aircraft had been parked at the gate for about 30 minutes, the new load of passengers had boarded, and flight 405 was nearly ready to depart.
Because the aircraft hadn't given them any problems that day, neither of the pilots had carried out a walk-around at LaGuardia.
It was just after 8 o'clock in the evening at LaGuardia Airport when 47 passengers boarded a US Air Fokker F28.
Looking after them in the cabin were two flight attendants.
The aircraft being used for this flight was just six years old and had no reported problems.
But given the conditions on this evening, it wasn't the state of the plane that was likely to cause issues.
The temperature was one degree below freezing.
It was snowing and there was a low cloud ceiling and poor visibility.
These conditions had slowed aircraft movements down significantly on this evening, with planes forming long queues to take off.
In charge of making sure that flight 405 got safely out of this mess was 44-year-old captain Wallace Majur.
Majur was an experienced pilot.
He had close to 10,000 hours of flying time, over 2,000 of which were on the Fokker F28.
Over the years, he had also flown the Boeing 737, the DC-9, DC-6, as well as a few other aircraft.
He had also been trained to operate in the wintry conditions that blanketed the East Coast on this evening, and he had plenty of experience flying in this kind of weather.
Sitting to his right was 30-year-old First Officer John Rotuba.
Rotuba was less experienced than Madure, however he still had plenty of flying time, with over 4,500 hours under his belt.
He had only just moved to the Fokker the previous month, and so had only 29 hours on it so far.
For the crew of Flight 405, it had been a long day.
They had started it over eight hours previously in Tri-Cities, Tennessee, before flying to Charlotte, North Carolina, and then on to Jacksonville, Florida.
Owing to the weather over the east coast of the US, they were now running an hour behind schedule.
And given the amount of traffic trying to get in and out of LaGuardia, it didn't appear as though this delay was going to get any better.
After the aircraft had been parked at the gate for about 30 minutes, the new load of passengers had boarded, and flight 405 was nearly ready to depart.
Because the aircraft hadn't given them any problems that day, neither of the pilots had carried out a walk-around at LaGuardia.
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