British 3101 N167PC

Summary

On 31 January 1991 at about 04:55 local time, a British 3101 registered N167PC, operated by Ccair Inc., was involved in an accident near Beckley, West Virginia, United States. 19 people were on board and 13 were seriously injured, 3 had minor injuries. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

31 January 1991 at 04:55

Classification

Accident

Location

Beckley, West Virginia, United States

Nearest airport

Raleigh County Memorial (BKW)

Coordinates

37.7394, -81.1497

Aircraft

British 3101

Registration

N167PC

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Ccair Inc.

Operating rule

Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Charlotte → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

IMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

DCA91MA019

13 people were seriously injured.

FLIGHT INTO KNOWN ADVERSE WEATHER CONDITIONS BY THE PILOT, WHICH RESULTED IN ICE ACCUMULATION ON THE AIRCRAFT AND SUBSEQUENT LOSS OF AIRCRAFT CONTROL (TAIL PLANE STALL) AS THE FLAPS WERE FULLY EXTENDED. FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: THE PILOT'S INADEQUATE USE OF THE PREFLIGHT BRIEFING SERVICE, INADEQUATE TRAINING PROVIDED TO THE PILOTS BY COMPANY/MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL, INADEQUATE SURVEILLANCE BY THE FAA, AND ICING CONDITIONS.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

ACFT WAS DISPATCHED WITH INOP AIRFRAME DEICE SYS, THO AN OPNL DEICE SYS WAS RQRD FOR FLT IN KNOWN ICG CONDS. DRG DSCNT TO LND, ACFT ENCTRD LGT ICG CONDS. CAPT BELIEVED ACFT COULD 'HANDLE IT' & CONTD DSCNT. AS HE BGN ILS FINAL APCH, HE NOTED SGFNT INCR OF ICE ACCUMULATION & USED HIGHER THAN NML APCH SPD. AS FULL (50 DEG) FLAPS WERE SET, ACFT BGN BUFFET & PITCHED NOSE DWN. CAPT CORRECTED WITH FULL BACK PRES ON CTL COLUMN, BUT ACFT LNDD HARD, GEAR COLLAPSED & ACFT SLID ABT 3600' TO A STOP. NO PREIMPACT MECH ANOMALY WAS FND, EXCEPT FOR INOP DEICE SYS. INV REVEALED PLTS HAD RCVD PRINTOUT OF WX FM CO COMPUTER SYS WITH SFC OBS & TRML FCST, BUT NO AREA FCST (FA). PLTS & GND PSNL WERE NOT AWARE THAT FA WAS AVAIL AT CO WX TRML. FA FCSTD LGT & OCNL MOD RIME & MXD ICG IN CLDS & PRECIP ABV FRZG LVL. WX DTRTD, BUT PLTS DID NOT REQ INFLT WX INFO OR PIREPS. FLT MNL NOTED TAILPLANE ICE MAY CAUSE NOSE DWN TRIM CHG WITH FLAP EXTN. THERE WAS EVIDENCE OF TAIL PLANE STALL, LACK OF CO TRNG IN COLD WX OPNS, DEFICIENCIES IN USE OF DEICING SYS, & LACK OF FAA SURVEILLANCE.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.