- Date
- December 26, 1989, 22:30 local (Dec 27, 1989, 06:30 UTC)
- Place
- Pasco, WA
- Injuries
- 6 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N410UEBritish Aerospace BAE-3101
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report October 8, 1992
- Report
- Board-adopted at Board Meeting
- Investigation class
- Class 1
- NTSB office
- Major Investigations Division
- Safety recommendations
- Yes
- FAA report
- 19891226053219A
- Case key
- 15932
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The flightcrew's decision to continue an unstabilized instrument landing system (ILS) approach that led to a stall, most likely of the horizontal stabilizer, and loss of control at low altitude. Contributing to the accident was the air traffic controller's improper vectors that positioned the airplane inside the outer marker while it was still well above the glideslope. Contributing to the stall and loss of control was the accumulation of airframe ice that degraded the aerodynamic performance of the airplane.
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 arrival for an ILS rwy 21R apch, the acft enctrd icing conds for about 9-1/2 min. As the acft was vectored for the apch, the seattle ARTCC ctlr used an expanded radar range & did not provide precise psng of the acft to the final apch course. The flt crew atmtd to cont on a steep, unstabilized apch for a lndg. Recorded radar data showed that the acft was well to the rgt of the ILS course line & well above the glide slope as it passed the outer marker/final apch fix (faf). It did not intercept the localizer course until it was abt 1.5 mi inside the faf. Also, it was still well above the ILS glide slope were recorded alt data was lost when the acft was abt 2.5 mi fm the arpt. The twr had closed, but the ctlr saw the acft in a higher than normal rate of dscnt in a wings level attitude. Bfr rchg the rwy, the acft nosed over & crashed in a steep dscnt. There was evidence that ice had accumulated on the airframe, including the horizontal stabilizers, which may have resulted in a tail plane stall. (See: NTSB/AAR-91/06)
Aircraft
- Registration
- N410UE
- Reported as
- British Aerospace BAE-3101
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 776
- Engine
- Garrett TPE-331, 900 horsepower, turbo prop
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Part 135
- Operator
- Npa/United Express, doing business as United Express
- Departed
- YKM · Yakima, WA
- Destination
- PSC
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- PSC · Tri-Cities, runway 21R, 7,700 × 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
- 38
- Certificates
- Commercial, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 6,600 total · 670 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 1,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 32 °F, dew point 30 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- WWL
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.