Commutair flight 4281
|
A Beechcraft 1900C similar to the accident aircraft | |
| summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | 3 January 1992 |
| Summary | loss of control on approach |
| Site | near Gabriels, New York |
| Passengers | 2 |
| Crew | 2 |
| Fatalities | 2 |
| Survivors | 2 |
| Aircraft type | Beechcraft 1900C |
| Operator | CommutAir - DBA USAir Express |
| Registration | N55000 |
| Flight origin | Plattsburgh International Airport, Plattsburgh, New York |
| 1st stopover | Adirondack Regional Airport, Saranac Lake, New York |
| Last stopover | Albany International Airport, Albany, New York |
| Destination | Newark Liberty International Airport, Newark, New Jersey |
On Friday, January 3, 1992, CommutAir Flight 4281 crashed while conducting an ILS approach to Runway 23 at the Adirondack Regional Airport, Flight 4821 crashed into a wooded hillside near Gabriels, New York. There were two people killed in the crash, and two survivors.
Accident
Flight 4821 was a regularly scheduled early morning USAir Express flight from Plattsburgh, New York, to Newark, New Jersey, with intermediate stops in Saranac Lake and Albany, New York. The crew for Flight 4281 were Captain Kevin St. Germain, 30, and First Officer Dean Montana, 23. There were two passengers on board, one of which was a CommutAir employee.
During the descent into Saranc Lake, the crew descended below the glide slope and crashed into a hill at 5:45am. First Officer Montana and the company employee passenger were killed. Captain St. Germain and the other passenger survived the crash.[1]
Investigation
The NTSB blamed the pilots for the crash. Captain St. Germain failed to stabilize the approach, cross check the instruments, and descended below the minimum altitude. First Officer Montana failed to monitor the approach. The contributing factors to the crash were weather and possible precipitation static interference, which could have caused unreliable glide slope indications.[2]