Embraer EMB145 N856HK

Summary

On 24 February 2016 at about 05:23 local time, a Embraer EMB145 registered N856HK, operated by Trans States Airlines Inc, was involved in an accident near St Louis, Missouri, United States. 33 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

24 February 2016 at 05:23

Classification

Accident

Location

St Louis, Missouri, United States

Nearest airport

Lambert-St Louis Intl (KSTL)

Coordinates

38.7486, -90.3700

Aircraft

Embraer EMB145

Registration

N856HK

Category

Airplane

Year built

2001

Operator

Trans States Airlines Inc

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Chicago → St Louis

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

DCA16LA100

Nobody was injured.

the flight crews' failure to consider all available runways for landing to minimize the gusty crosswind component. Contributing to the accident was the captain's reduction of the engine thrust for about 1 second at low altitude immediately after the first officer applied maximum thrust to conduct a go-around.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane was landing on runway 30L at STL in gusty crosswind conditions and the first officer was the pilot flying. The first officer questioned the captain on the use of flaps 45 on two occasions during the approach but ultimately decided to land with flaps 45. There were no airport limitations in effect for runway 6 at the time of the accident that would have precluded the flight crew's use of the runway 6. The flight crew had the performance numbers available to land on runway 6 which was more aligned with the wind conditions and would have reduced the crosswind component by more than half. During the flare, with the engines at flight idle, the airplane rolled left and then right when they encountered a wind gust. The left wingtip struck the runway followed by the right wingtip as the first officer advanced the thrust levers for a go-around. After the first officer advanced the thrust levers as the pilot flying, the captain, as pilot monitoring, reduced the engine power to idle for about 1 second before advancing them back to max thrust without a positive transfer of control. After the go-around, the first officer transferred control to the captain who subsequently performed an uneventful landing at flaps 22 on runway 30L.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.