When was the last maintenance-related commercial plane crash in the U.S.?
status:
Final Date:08 JAN 2003
Time:08:49
Type:
Beechcraft 1900D
Operator:
US Airways Express / Air Midwest
Registration: N233YV C/n /
msn: UE-233 First flight: 1996 Total airframe hrs:15003 Cycles:21332 Engines: 2 Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-67D
Crew:Fatalities: 2 /
Occupants: 2 Passengers:
Fatalities: 19 / Occupants: 19
Total:Fatalities: 21 / Occupants: 21
Airplane damage: Destroyed
Location: Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, NC (CLT)Phase: Takeoff Nature: Domestic Scheduled Passenger
Departure airport:
Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, NC (CLT/KCLT), United States of America
Destination airport:
Greenville-Spartanburg Airport, SC (GSP/KGSP), United States of America
Flightnumber:5481
PROBABLE CAUSE: "The airplane’s loss of pitch control during takeoff. The loss of pitch control resulted from the incorrect rigging of the elevator control system compounded by the airplane’s aft center of gravity, which was substantially aft of the certified aft limit. Contributing to the cause of the accident was: (1) Air Midwest’s lack of oversight of the work being performed at the Huntington, West Virginia, maintenance station; (2) Air Midwest’s maintenance procedures and documentation; (3) Air Midwest’s weight and balance program at the time of the accident; (4) the Raytheon Aerospace quality assurance inspector’s failure to detect the incorrect rigging of the elevator system; (5) the FAA’s average weight assumptions in its weight and balance program guidance at the time of the accident; and (6) the FAA’s lack of oversight of Air Midwest’s maintenance program and its weight and balance program."
status:
Final Date:26 AUG 2003
Time:15:40 Type:
Beechcraft 1900D
Operator:
US Airways Express / Colgan Air
Registration: N240CJ C/n /
msn: UE-40
First flight: 1993
Total airframe hrs:16503 Cycles:24637 Engines: 2 Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-67D
Crew:Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Passengers:Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0
Total:Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Airplane damage: Destroyed Location:5 km (3.1 mls) S of Hyannis, MA Phase: En route Nature:Ferry/positioning
Departure airport:
Hyannis-Barnstable Airport, MA (HYA/KHYA), United States of America
Destination airport:
Albany Airport, NY (ALB/KALB), United States of America Flightnumber:9446
PROBABLE CAUSE: "The improper replacement of the forward elevator trim cable, and subsequent inadequate functional check of the maintenance performed, which resulted in a reversal of the elevator trim system and a loss of control in-flight. Factors were the flightcrew's failure to follow the checklist procedures, and the aircraft manufacturer's erroneous depiction of the elevator trim drum in the maintenance manual."