Bombardier CL-600 N995CA

Summary

On 21 July 2004 at about 12:15 local time, a Bombardier CL-600 registered N995CA was involved in an accident near Snow Hill, Virginia, United States. 5 people were on board and one was seriously injured. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

21 July 2004 at 12:15

Classification

Accident

Location

Snow Hill, Virginia, United States

Coordinates

38.0564, -75.4639

Aircraft

Bombardier CL-600

Registration

N995CA

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Charleston → New York

Aircraft damage

Not recorded

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

NYC04LA174

1 person was seriously injured.

The pilot's excessive maneuvering in response to a TCAS alert, which resulted in a serious injury to the flight attendant.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight crew received a traffic advisory (TA) alert from the Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS), followed shortly by an aural resolution advisory (RA) warning to "CLIMB, CLIMB." The first officer (FO) then disconnected the autopilot and initiated a climb, at a rate of ascent of 1,500 feet per minute. The captain then announced he was taking the controls and proceeded to pitch the airplane at a greater angle. As the airplane ascended, the flight attendant fell to the floor and broke her ankle. Once the TCAS announced, "clear of conflict," the captain leveled the airplane at 30,000 feet. He then returned the controls to the FO, and the airplane was descended back to an assigned altitude of FL 290. A review of radar data and air traffic control information, revealed that the accident airplane was climbing at a rate of 2,500 feet per minute and an airspeed of 483 knots. The airplane which caused the traffic alert for the accident airplane was an MD-80, which was climbing at 2,000 feet per minute, and an airspeed of 433 knots. The closest proximity between the two aircraft was 1.54 nautical miles, and 1,500 feet. According to the operator's Flight Standards Manual, "the correct response to a corrective RA is to fly from the red zone into the green zone. This maneuver requires a response within 5 seconds of the advisory using approximately a 0.25g maneuver". A performance review of the radar data revealed the flight crew's maneuver in response to the TCAS alert included a 1,000-foot climb, followed immediately by a descent back to the airplane’s assigned altitude. The maneuver described by the radar data could be performed using an initial 1.15 G pull-up to start the climb, followed by a 0.05 push-over to arrest the climb and start the descent, followed by a 1.4 G pull-up to level the airplane at the assigned altitude. In this sequence, the time between the 0.05 G push-over and the 1.4 G level-off was about 5 seconds.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.