- Date
- March 4, 1987, 14:34 local (19:34 UTC)
- Place
- Romulus, MI
- Injuries
- 9 fatal, 7 serious, 6 minor; on the ground: 3 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N160FBCASA C-212-CC
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 19, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Major Investigations Division
- Safety recommendations
- Yes
- FAA report
- 19870304009469A
- Case key
- 15875
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
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
The capt made a steep, short, fast visual approach to the runway behind a departing DC-9. The evidence indicates the capt placed the power levers into beta mode to slow the aircraft rapidly and make a short field landing. An asymmetric thrust condition resulted. The aircraft was very close to the ground and the capt could not recover prior to impact. Impact forces were survivable. However, the fatalities were attributed to a postcrash fire, lack of fire-blocking material, and poorly designed aircraft components. The investigation revealed incorrect springs installed in the propellers and higher that normal fuel flow settings. The examination of the certification process indicated ineffectivemanagement of bilateral type certification by the FAA. (For further information, see NTSB/AAR-88/08.)
Aircraft
- Registration
- N160FB
- Reported as
- CASA C-212-CC
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 160
- Airframe hours
- 12,918
- Engine
- Garrett TPE-331-10R, 900 horsepower, turbo prop
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Fisher Brothers Aviation Inc., doing business as Northwest Arient Airlink
- Registered owner
- Aim Leasing
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Transport
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · February 22, 1987 · 51 hours before
- Departed
- CLE · Cleveland, OH
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- DTW · Detroit Metro, runway 21R, 10,501 × 200 ft, concrete
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
- 45
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 17,953 total · 3,144 in this make and model · 15,821 as pilot in command · 293 in the last 90 days · 101 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 140° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 37 °F, dew point 19 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- DTW
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.