Aerospatiale ATR42-300 N99838

Summary

On 4 March 1993 at about 22:00 local time, a Aerospatiale ATR42-300 registered N99838, operated by Britt Airways, was involved in an incident near Newark, New Jersey, United States. 34 people were on board and nobody was injured. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

4 March 1993 at 22:00

Classification

Incident

Location

Newark, New Jersey, United States

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Aerospatiale ATR42-300

Registration

N99838

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Britt Airways

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Baltimore → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Not recorded

Weather

IMC

Light

Dusk

NTSB number

DCA93IA027

Nobody was injured.

THE FLIGHTCREW'S FAILURE TO FOLLOW APPROVED PROCEDURES THAT REQUIRED A MINIMUM PROPELLER SPPED WHILE FLYING IN ICING CONDITION. CONTRIBUTING TO THE LOSS OF ROLL CONTROL WERE THE ENCOUNTERS WITH SEVERE TURBULENCE AND ICING CONDITIONS.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

FLIGHT 3444 ENCOUNTERED SEVERE TURBULENCE AND ICING CONDITIONS WHILE ON APPROACH TO RUNWAY 4R AT NEWARK INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. AN ANALYSIS OF THE WEATHER REVEALED THAT THERE WERE 'STRONG HORIZONTAL GUSTS' AND SEVERE TURBULENCE IN THE NEWARK AREA BELOW 5,000 FEET. ALSO, THE FLIGHTCREW STATED THAT THEY HAD BEEN FLYING IN ICING CONDITIONS THAT CONSISTED OF A MIXTURE OF RIME AND CLEAR ICE. THE CAPTAIN STATED THAT HE OBSERVED ABOUT 3 INCHES OF ICE ON TOP OF THE WING, BEHIND THE LEADING EDGE WING BOOT. APPROVED PROCEDURES FOR FLIGHT IN ICING CONDITIONS REQUIRE THE PROPELLER SPEED BE MAINTAINED AT 86 PERCENT OR HIGHER TO PREVENT UNEVEN ICE ACCUMULATION OF THE WING. THE DFDR INFORMATION REVEALED THE CREW HAD THE PROPELLER SPEED AT 77 PERCENT, 9 PERCENT THE REQUIRED MINIMUM.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.