1987 — March 4, Northwest Airlink Crash, Detroit/Wayne County Airport, Romulus, MI-9

–9  NTSB AAR…[NW] Airlink, Flight 2268…Detroit…Wayne Co. [AP], Romulus, [MI], p. v.

–9  NTSB. Safety Recommendation (A-90-181 & 182). Letter to FAA Administrator, 12-19-1990.

Narrative Information

NTSB Executive Summary: “On March 4, 1987, Fischer Bros. Aviation, inc., doing business as Northwest Airlink, flight 2268, a Construcciones Aeronauticas, S.A. (CASA) C-212-CC, N160FB, crashed just inside the threshold of runway 21R at the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. Nine of the 19 persons on board were killed. The airplane was destroyed by impact forces and postcrash fire.

“The safety issues discussed in this accident report are the captain’s failure to follow approved flight and company procedures, his use of the powerplant beta mode in flight, company maintenance procedures and propeller overhaul practices, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) bilateral aircraft type certification, and FAA surveillance.

“The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the accident was the captain’s inability to control the airplane in an attempt to recover from an asymmetric power condition at low speed following his intentional use of the beta mode of propeller operation to descend and slow the airplane rapidly on final approach for landing. Factors that contributed to the accident were an unstabilized visual approach, the presence of a departing DC-9 on the runway, the desire to make a short field landing, and the higher-than-normal flight idle fuel flow settings of both engines. The lack of fire-blocking material in passenger seat cushions contributed to the severity of the injuries.

“As a result of this investigation the Safety Board made recommendations to the FAA concerning the CASA airplane in the areas of stall warning information, passenger-seat installation, flightcrew restraints, head clearance, and door controls. The Safety Board also made recommendations to the FAA concerning fire-blocking material on seats, surveillance of propeller overhaul facilities, of turbopeller flight idle blade angle maintenance, design of propeller pitch controls, flightcrew training, and on the bilateral aircraft type certification program.” (NTSB AAR…Northwest Airlink, Flight 2268…Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, Romulus, Michigan, March 4, 1987. 9-14-1987, p. v.)

Sources

National Transportation Safety Board. Aircraft Accident Report. Fischer Bros. Aviation, Inc., dba Northwest Airlink, Flight 2268, Construcciones Aeronauticas, S.A. (CASA), C-212-CC, N160FB, Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, Romulus, Michigan, March 4, 1987 (NTSB/AAR-88/08). Washington, DC: NTSB, 9-14-1987, 60 pages.

National Transportation Safety Board. Safety Recommendation (A-90-181 & 182). Letter to Federal Aviation Administration Administrator, 12-19-1990, 4 pages. Accessed 11-14-2016 at: http://www.ntsb.gov/safety/safety-recs/recletters/A90_181_182.pdf