CommutAir Flight 4821

CommutAir Flight 4821
	A Beechcraft 1900C similar to the accident aircraft
Accident
Date	January 3, 1992
Summary	Controlled flight into terrain due to pilot error
Site	Gabriels, near Adirondack Regional Airport, Saranac Lake, New York, United States ; 44°25′16″N 74°11′28″W / 44.421°N 74.191°W
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Beechcraft 1900C
Operator	CommutAir doing business as 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
Occupants	4
Passengers	2
Crew	2
Fatalities	2
Injuries	2
Survivors	2

On Friday, January 3, 1992, a Beechcraft 1900 operating CommutAir Flight 4821 crashed into a wooded hillside near Gabriels, New York while conducting an ILS approach to Runway 23 at the Adirondack Regional Airport. The cause of the accident was determined to be pilot error. There were two people killed in the crash, and two survivors.^[1]

Accident[edit]

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 4821 were Captain Kevin St. Germain, 30, and First Officer Dean Montana, 23. There were two passengers on board, one of which was an off-duty CommutAir employee.^[2]

Shortly before the crash occurred, the aircraft had contacted CommutAir officials on the ground at the airport. During the descent into Saranac Lake, the crew descended below the glide slope and crashed into a hill at 5:45am.^[3] First Officer Montana and the company employee passenger were killed. Captain St. Germain and the other passenger survived the crash with injuries.^[4]

Investigation[edit]

The aircraft was new and the crew was experienced. Immediately following the accident, there was no clear cause.^[5]

The aircraft was not required to be equipped with a flight data recorder (FDR), therefore, a flight data recorder was not present. The aircraft was equipped with a cockpit voice recorder (CVR) but it was burned to the point that the data inside were not usable. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) used aircraft position data from air traffic control, the aircraft wreckage, survivor interviews, and weather information to find its probable cause.^[4]

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.^[1]

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Beechcraft 1900C-1 N55000 Saranac Lake-Adirondack Airport, NY (SLK)". Aviation Safety Network. Flight Safety Foundation. Retrieved July 5, 2009.
^ "2 KILLED IN PLANE CRASH". The Palm Beach Post. January 4, 1992. - Clipping at Newspapers.com.
^ "2 die, 2 hurt in commuter plane crash". Chicago Tribune. January 4, 1992. Archived from the original on October 26, 2012. Retrieved April 23, 2010.
^ ^a ^b "In reply refer to: A-94-74 through -76" (PDF). National Transportation Safety Board. March 28, 1994. Retrieved April 23, 2010.
^ "2 DIE IN BAFFLING CRASH OF NEW PLANE". The Buffalo News. January 5, 1992. Retrieved April 23, 2010. - Clipping at Newspapers.com.

[AvSafetyNetwork-1] Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Beechcraft 1900C-1 N55000 Saranac Lake-Adirondack Airport, NY (SLK)". Aviation Safety Network. Flight Safety Foundation. Retrieved July 5, 2009.

[2] "2 KILLED IN PLANE CRASH". The Palm Beach Post. January 4, 1992. - Clipping at Newspapers.com.

[3] "2 die, 2 hurt in commuter plane crash". Chicago Tribune. January 4, 1992. Archived from the original on October 26, 2012. Retrieved April 23, 2010.

[NTSBInReply-4] "In reply refer to: A-94-74 through -76" (PDF). National Transportation Safety Board. March 28, 1994. Retrieved April 23, 2010.

[5] "2 DIE IN BAFFLING CRASH OF NEW PLANE". The Buffalo News. January 5, 1992. Retrieved April 23, 2010. - Clipping at Newspapers.com.

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v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States and U.S. territories in the 1990s
1990	Northwest Airlines Flight 5 Avianca Flight 052 Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 2254 Death of Stevie Ray Vaughan Wayne County Airport runway collision
1991	Los Angeles runway disaster Ryan International Airlines Flight 590 United Airlines Flight 585 Merion air disaster Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 2311 L'Express Airlines Flight 508 Continental Express Flight 2574 Vallejo helicopter crash
1992	CommutAir Flight 4821 Air Transport International Flight 805 USAir Flight 405 American Eagle Flight 5456 GP Express Airlines Flight 861 TWA Flight 843
1993	Lufthansa Flight 592 Japan Air Lines Cargo Flight 46E Alan Kulwicki plane crash China Eastern Airlines Flight 583 American Airlines Flight 102 American International Airways Flight 808 Northwest Airlink Flight 5719
1994	United Express Flight 6291 Green Ramp disaster Federal Express Flight 705 Fairchild Air Force Base B-52 crash USAir Flight 1016 USAir Flight 427 American Eagle Flight 4184 TWA Flight 427 Flagship Airlines Flight 3379
1995	Air Transport International Flight 782 Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 529 Alaska Boeing E-3 Sentry accident American Airlines Flight 1572 Tower Air Flight 41
1996	ValuJet Flight 592 Eastwind Airlines Flight 517 Delta Air Lines Flight 1288 TWA Flight 800 FedEx Express Flight 1406 Quincy Airport disaster Airborne Express Flight 827 New Hampshire Learjet crash
1997	Comair Flight 3272 FedEx Express Flight 14 Korean Air Flight 801 Fine Air Flight 101 John Denver
1998	United Airlines Flight 863
1999	American Airlines Flight 1420 Martha's Vineyard plane crash South Dakota Learjet crash
This list is incomplete.