|
| Title: | Takeoff stall in icing conditions, USAir Flight 405, Fokker F-28, N485US, LaGuardia Airport, Flushing, New York, March 22, 1992 |
| Micro summary: | This Fokker F-28 stalled and crashed on takeoff. |
| Event Time: | 1992-03-22 at 2135 EST |
| File Name: | 1992-03-22-US.pdf |
| Publishing Agency: | National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) |
| Publishing Country: | USA |
| Report number: | NTSB-AAR-93-02 |
| Pages: | 131 |
| Site of event: | LaGuardia runway 13 |
| Latitude/Longitude: | N40°46'23" W73°51'29" |
| Departure: | LaGuardia International Airport, New York, New York, USA |
| Destination: | Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, Cleveland, Ohio, USA |
| Airplane Type(s): | Fokker F-28-4000 |
| Flight Phase: | Takeoff |
| Registration(s): | N485US |
| Operator(s): | USAir |
| Type of flight: | Revenue |
| Occupants: | 51 |
| Fatalities: | 27 |
| Serious Injuries: | 21 |
| Minor/Non-Injured: | 3 |
| Other Injuries: | 0 |
| Executive Summary: | On Sunday, March 22, 1992, about 2135 eastern standard time, a Fokker 28-4000 (F-28), N485US, operating as USAir flight 405, crashed during an attempted takeoff from runway 13 at LaGuardia Airport, Hushing, New York. Flight 405 was operating under Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 121, as a scheduled passenger flight from Jacksonville, Florida, to Cleveland, Ohio, with a stopover at LaGuardia Airport. There were 47 passengers, 2 flightcrew members and 2 cabincrew members on board. The captain, one of the cabincrew members, and 25 passengers received fatal injuries. The airplane was destroyed by impact forces and subsequent fire. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable causes of this accident were the failure of the airline industry and the Federal Aviation Administration to provide flightcrews with procedures, requirements, and criteria compatible with departure delays in conditions conducive to airframe icing and the decision by the flightcrew to take off without positive assurance that the airplane's wings were free of ice accumulation after 35 minutes of exposure to precipitation following deicing. The ice contamination on the wings resulted in an aerodynamic stall and loss of control after liftoff. Contributing to the cause of the accident were the inappropriate procedures used by, and inadequate coordination between, the flightcrew that led to a takeoff rotation at a lower than prescribed air speed. The safety issues in this report focused on the weather affecting the flight, USAir's deicing procedures, industry airframe deicing practices, air traffic control aspects affecting the flight, USAir's takeoff and preflight procedures, and flightcrew qualifications and training. The dynamics of the airplane's impact with the ground, postaccident survivability, and crash/fire/rescue activities were also analyzed. Safety recommendations concerning these issues were addressed to the Federal Aviation Administration, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the Department of Transportation, and the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation. |
Accident Reports on DVD, Copyright © 2006 by Flight Simulation Systems, LLC. All Rights Reserved. All referenced trademarks are the property of their respective owners.www.fss.aero