2003 — Jan 8, Air Midwest Flight 5481 takeoff crash (no survivors), Charlotte, NC– 21

–21  Aircraft Crashes Record Office (Geneva, Switzerland).  North Carolina.  Reg. N233YV.

–21  NTSB. AAR. Loss of Pitch Control During Takeoff, Air Midwest Flight 5481…, 2004, p. x.

–21  Planecrashinfo.com. “2003. Accident Details. US Air Express/Air Midwest, Charlotte…”

–21  Sturkey. Mayday. Accident Reports and Voice Transcripts from Airline Crash… 2005, 431.

 

Narrative Information

 

NTSB Executive Summary: “On January 8, 2003, about 0847:28 eastern standard time, Air Midwest (doing business as US Airways Express) flight 5481, a Raytheon (Beechcraft) 1900D, N233YV, crashed shortly after takeoff from runway 18R at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, Charlotte, North Carolina. The 2 flight crewmembers and 19 passengers aboard the airplane were killed, 1 person on the ground received minor injuries, and the airplane was destroyed by impact forces and a postcrash fire.

 

“Flight 5481 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight to Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport, Greer, South Carolina, and was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 on an instrument flight rules flight plan. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident.

 

“The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the airplane’s loss of pitch control during takeoff. The loss of pitch control resulted from the incorrect rigging of the elevator control system compounded by the airplane’s aft center of gravity, which was substantially aft of the certified aft limit.

 

“Contributing to the cause of the accident were (1) Air Midwest’s lack of oversight of the work being performed at the Huntington, West Virginia, maintenance station; (2) Air Midwest’s maintenance procedures and documentation; (3) Air Midwest’s weight and balance program at the time of the accident; (4) the Raytheon Aerospace quality assurance inspector’s failure to detect the incorrect rigging of the elevator control system; (5) the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) average weight assumptions in its weight and balance program guidance at the time of the accident; and (6) the FAA’s lack of oversight of Air Midwest’s maintenance program and its weight and balance program….” (NTSB. AAR. Loss of Pitch Control During Takeoff, Air Midwest Flight 5481…Charlotte, North Carolina, January 8, 2003. 2-26-2004, p.x.)

 

Planecrashinfo.com: “The commuter plane was not able to maintain altitude after taking off from Charlotte-Douglas International Airport and crashed into the side of a hanger and burst into flames. The weather was clear, cold and windy, with greater than 10 miles visibility at the time of the accident. The airplane’s loss of pitch control during takeoff was the result of incorrect rigging of the elevator control system compounded by the airplane’s center of gravity, which was substantially aft of the certified aft limit. Contributing to the cause of the accident was: (1) Air Midwest’s lack of oversight of the work being performed at the Huntington, West Virginia, maintenance station, (2) Air Midwest’s maintenance procedures and documentation, (3) Air Midwest’s weight and balance program at the time of the accident, (4) the Raytheon Aerospace quality assurance inspector’s failure to detect the incorrect rigging of the elevator system, (5) the FAA’s average weight assumptions in its weight and balance program guidance at the time of the accident and (6) the FAA’s lack of oversight of Air Midwest’s maintenance program and its weight and balance program.”  No survivors.  (Planecrashinfo.com.)

 

Sources

 

Aircraft Crashes Record Office (Geneva, Switzerland).  North Carolina. Accessed 3/3/2009 at:  http://www.baaa-acro.com/Pays/Etats-Unis/Caroline%20du%20Nord.htm

 

National Transportation Safety Board. Aircraft Accident Report. Loss of Pitch Control During Takeoff, Air Midwest Flight 5481, Raytheon (Beechcraft) 1900D, N233YV, Charlotte, North Carolina, January 8, 2003 (NTSB/AAR-04/01). Washington, DC: NTSB, adopted 2-26-2004. Accessed 10-28-2015 at: http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/AAR0401.pdf

 

Planecrashinfo.com. “2003. Accident Details. US Air Express/Air Midwest, Charlotte, NC, January 8, 2003.”  Accessed at:  http://www.planecrashinfo.com/2003/2003-2.htm

 

Sturkey, Marion F. Mayday. Accident Reports and Voice Transcripts from Airline Crash Investigations. Plum Branch, SC: Heritage Press International, 2005.