UA 4933 Runway Excursion at PQI on March 4 2019

[Seat4A]

Photos include one of gear sheared off and wedged in between fuselage and left engine. Seems to be N14171 Embraer ERJ-145

I don't have enough posts to allow for uploading photos or links. Perhaps others here can. Thanks.

[Airbubba]

From 'social media' reports:


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1280x720/53566811_10157141195086972_8857698602877714432_o_dc4ca814627 0110e8701594021939c6102701c08.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1280x720/53563556_10157141191386972_7919374039703879680_o_67247ab03df d1b7beb101051b9741156496532c1.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/960x720/53305527_10157141171276972_5708107859615547392_n_05fe900b940 d926adcb65fc8984e4fed1502c7a6.jpg

[Airbubba]

From TheCounty.Me:

Plane skids off runway, closing airport in Presque IsleAnthony Brino (https://thecounty.me/author/abrino/) • March 4, 2019

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The Federal Aviation Administration will be investigating why a plane slid off the runway in Presque Isle Monday morning, leaving the airport closed until further notice.

Around 11:30 a.m. Monday, a United Airlines flight from Newark to Presque Isle was making its second approach at landing when it landed and then slid off the runway, said Presque Isle public information officer Kim Smith.

There were 28 passengers and 4 crew members on board, and four passengers and the pilot were taken to a hospital with minor injuries, Smith said.

The United flights for the Newark-Presque Isle service are operated by CommuteAir, which is partly owned by United.

The aircraft also sustained unspecified damage and is remaining in place until investigators with the Federal Aviation Administration can assess the incident, Smith said.

It is not clear what may have caused the off-runway landing, Smith said.

The incident closed the airport Monday, and it is not known immediately when outgoing and incoming flights will resume, Smith said.

Rick and Cassie Daigle, owners of Too Far North Fitness in Fort Kent were returning from Columbus, Ohio where Cassie was competing in a kettlebell event at the Arnold Sports Expo.

Rick Daigle said passengers realized there was a problem even before the plane hit the runway.

“Well, the first attempt they pulled up before landing… so obviously something was wrong,” he said. “The actual ‘landing’ if you want to call it that completely missed the runway. The first impact was hard and violent.”

Daigle said the plan then bounced four or five times before it came to a stop at a location far from the runway.

The scene in the airplane was one of and chaos with people screaming and seats coming apart, Rick said.

“The plane literally is nowhere near the actual runway,” he said. “We smelled some burning, but nothing was on fire.“We were just in shock.”

In fact, Rick said that snowplows had to remove snow so that emergency responders could get to the plane to help the passengers.

Rick said that Cassie hit her head during the incident and once the couple returns to Fort Kent she plans to be evaluated at Northern Maine Medical Center as a precaution.

“We climbed out on a ladder with the help of local fire department,” he said.

The Daigles wers still at the airport as of 2 p.m. after having been interviewed by emergency medical technicians and a United representative, Rick said.

The Daigles are parents to a 4 /2 year old son. “Cass did say to me she will be okay when she sees Keegan,” Rick said.

“I do want answers though,” Rick said.

[FIRESYSOK]

Doesn’t seem like a simple overrun or excursion if pax recollections are to be trusted. Could have been worse.

[pilotguy1222]

. Could have been worse.

That is usually a given.

[b1lanc]

Can't say I've ever seen an engine eat landing gear - something doesn't look quite right on starboard side intake either.

[seadoons]

Did you mean the port intake?

[Airbubba]

From @NTSB_Newsroom:

NTSB is sending two investigators to today’s accident in Presque Isle, ME involving United Express, EMB-145XR, CommutAir.2:52 PM - 4 Mar 2019

[pattern_is_full]

"To lose one landing gear may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose three looks like carelessness." - apologies to Oscar Wilde.

At first blush, this smacks of a classic "flew it into the ground" hard landing due to misperception of HAT. Sometimes due to a narrower-than-standard runway at a smaller airport - but PQI 01 is pretty standard 150-feet/46m wide. I wonder if a dusting of snow on the hard stuff still messed with pilot perceptions, though. Or indeed, as a pax suggests, they missed the runway altogether as "white-on-white."

Guess the investigators will be able to read the tracks and conditions and figure it out.

[b1lanc]

FAA implies they missed the runway on 2nd attempt - pax (for what it's worth says same) - AVH.

[punkalouver]

(95) A Really Unusual Problem TRICKED These Pilots! - YouTube

[BFSGrad]

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be:
The flight crew’s decision, due to confirmation bias, to continue the descent below the decision altitude when the runway had not been positively identified. Contributing to the accident were (1) the first officer’s fatigue, which exacerbated his confirmation bias, and (2) the failure of CommutAir pilots who had observed the localizer misalignment to report it to the company and air traffic before the accident.

CommutAir (United Express) 4933 Final Report (https://data.ntsb.gov/carol-repgen/api/Aviation/ReportMain/GenerateNewestReport/99050/pdf)

[fdr]

rather than sending 2 investigators, the NTSB would have done better sending a bulldozer. That is not going to buff out readily,

[Capn Bloggs]

Monitored Approach. :hmm: