Today's flight through that massive storm system on the East coast...

[RayS]

...didn't end so well....


Date of Report: 15 April 2018

Aircraft Owner: Seidler Holdings, LLC
Registration: Air Midwest
Operator: Delta Connect

Crew Injuries: 2
Passenger Injuries: 19
Aircraft Damage: Total Loss
Aircraft Fire: Post-crash fire

Executive Summary

?On April 15, 2018, about 1347:28 eastern standard time, Air Midwest (doing business as Delta Connect) flight 209, a Raytheon (Beechcraft) 1900D, N62F, crashed 10 nautical miles South-South-East of the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, Charlotte, North Carolina. The 2 flight crewmembers and 19 passengers aboard the airplane were injured, 1 person on the ground and 1 giraffe received minor injuries. The airplane was destroyed by impact forces and a post-crash fire.

Flight 209 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight to Atlanta International Airport, departing from Raleigh-Durham and was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 on an instrument flight rules flight plan. Instrument meteorological conditions with known icing conditions prevailed at the time of the accident.

Weather Factors:

Weather in the area was IMC from 0' AGL to FL380. Visibility in the area was 0/0 with moderate to severe turbulence, moderate to severe icing (Including Clear-air icing and rime icing)

Probable Cause

The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the aircrew's decision to depart into known icing conditions, resulting in loss of pitch control during cruise flight. It is also noted that the Beechcraft 1900D is not certified for flight into known icing conditions.

Contributing to the cause of the accident were:

(1) Air Midwest's lack of oversight of the work being performed at the Seattle, Washington maintenance station. It was discovered that nearly all anti-icing systems were not properly wired, with only the pitot heating system functioning properly at the time of the accident. Subsequent systems like the Prop anti-icing system, the Engine Anti Icing system and the wing boots all were improperly installed/maintained. All icing system flight deck controls were in the "On" position prior to impact, according the flight data recorder.


(2) the Raytheon Aerospace quality assurance inspector's failure to detect the incorrect installation/rigging of the anti-icing systems;


(3) the aircrews' decision to descend into known icing conditions from FL250 to FL200. The sound of hail and freezing rain was detected on the CVR once the aircraft was level at FL200.

[Sam Llorca]

  :laugh :

[jr2mey]

I HEARD the NTSB, in keeping with the best interest of the copilots family, three dogs and one cat, decided not to place into the executive report the last words recorded on the CVR before descending from 250 were; " hold my beer, watch this"

[Bob Reed]

Odd that the FAA would allow this particular air crew back in the cockpit as I seem to recall another storm fly through attempt that did not end so well..... Note to self.. Never fly with this air crew....... 

[Trevor Hale]

LOL.

You won't have to fly with this crew anymore as they have perished likely.

Its a shame..... My De-icing works perfect in the King air...  too bad the 1900 Crew didn't notice the issue immediately and climb to freedom about the storm... "OH YEAH, they can't fly above FL240" LOL.

Too bad the crew couldn't outrun the storm... "Oh Yeah, they can only fly at 220KIAS"

Why didn't they turn around? <--- We will never know LOL

[RayS]

NTSB Update

Although the injuries sustained by the giraffe were initially not serious, the giraffe passed away late last night.

Name withheld pending next of kin notification.