Beechcraft 1900D N233YV

Summary

On 8 January 2003 at about 13:49 local time, a Beechcraft 1900D registered N233YV, operated by Air Midwest Inc, was involved in an accident near Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. 22 people were on board and 21 died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

8 January 2003 at 13:49

Classification

Accident

Location

Charlotte, North Carolina, United States

Nearest airport

Charlotte-Douglas Internationa (CLT)

Coordinates

35.2307, -80.8392

Aircraft

Beechcraft 1900D

Registration

N233YV

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Air Midwest Inc

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Charlotte → Greenville-Spar

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DCA03MA022

21 people died.

the airplane's loss of pitch control during take-off. The loss of pitch control resulted from the incorrect rigging of the elevator system compounded by the airplane's aft center of gravity, which was substaintially 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.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The Safety Board's full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/publictn.htm. The Aircraft Accident Report number is NTSB/AAR-04/01. 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.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.