- Date
- January 2, 1993, 19:42 local (Jan 3, 1993, 01:42 UTC)
- Place
- Hibbing, MN
- Injuries
- 31 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N342PXSaab-Scania 340A
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report April 21, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19930102000019A
- Case key
- 15773
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
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Probable cause
The first officer's failure to maintain a proper descent rate during the landing, and the captain's inadequate supervision by not taking timely action to ensure a safe landing. Factors which contributed to the accident were: the company's failure to provide adequate training on the airplane's flight characteristics and/or handling techniques under conditions of wing ice contamination, the company's failure to assure that both pilots had received the current crew resource management (CRM) training, and the existing weather conditions which resulted in an accumulation of ice on the airplane's wing.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
During the approach, the 1st officer (fo) asked the capt if he wanted to '...pop the boots?' To remove ice off the wings. The capt responded '...it's going to the hangar. I'll run'em on the ground...' The fo retarded power over the threshold & the sink rate increased; the capt observed 900 fpm. The fo applied additional back pressure on the yoke, but it was inadequate to arrest the high sink rate. Additional back pressure was applied, and the stall horn sounded followed shortly thereafter by the capt stating 'I got it.' During the hard landing the right main landing gear broke, the fuel tank ruptured, and the right wing rear spar bent upward. Aprx 18 hrs after the accident, 3/16 inch of rime mixed with clear ice was observed on the leading edges of the wing, horiz stab, and vert stab. The ice had finger-like protrusions positioned vertically to the wing surfaces. The company's line ops manual does not discuss flight characteristics or landing techniques specific to wing ice. Neither pilot had received company's current CRM training.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N342PX
- Reported as
- Saab-Scania 340A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 340A-147
- Engine
- GE CT-7, 1,735 horsepower, turbo prop
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Express I, doing business as Northwest Airlink
- Registered owner
- State Bank And Trust Company
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Transport
- Last inspection
- AAIP · January 2, 2000
- Departed
- MSP · Minneapolis, MN
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- HIB · Hibbing-Chisholm, runway 31, 6,758 × 150 ft, asphalt
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 30
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 6,500 total · 2,800 in this make and model · 195 in the last 90 days · 75 in the last 30 days · 5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 170° at 10 knots, gusting 18
- Visibility
- 1 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 500 ft
- Temperature
- 19 °F, dew point 18 °F
- Altimeter
- 28.00 inHg
- Observed at
- HIB, 1 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.