DCA94MA038

The airplane ran off the end of the runway during a rejected takeoff, coming to rest on a dike and a tidal mud flat. FDR data confirmed that the pitot heat had not been selected 'on' by the flightcrew. A buildup of snow and/or ice in the pitot/static system tubes and ports resulted in erroneous airspeed readings during the attempted takeoff. Substantial deviations from checklist procedures were recorded on the CVR. 19 seconds elapsed between the time that the airplane actually accelerated through 60 KIAS (the first mark on the airspeed indicator) and the start of the rejected takeoff.

On March 2, 1994, at 1758 eastern standard time, a McDonnell Douglas MD-80, N18835, operated by Continental Airlines as flight 795, sustained substantial damage during an aborted takeoff at La Guardia Airport in Flushing, New York (LGA). Of the 116 persons on board the airplane, two were flight crewmembers, four were cabin crewmembers, and 110 were passengers. There were seven minor injuries during the accident sequence and evacuation.

A special weather observation, made about 5 minutes after the accident, found the weather as drifting snow conditions, with an indefinite ceiling at 500 feet, obscured, with the wind out of 050 at 23 knots.

The flight was to have been from LGA to Denver Stapleton International Airport, Colorado (DEN). During the attempted takeoff on runway 13, the first officer was at the controls. The captain, seeing that the airspeed indication was not increasing normally, but remained low, elected to abort by pulling back on the throttles, entering reverse thrust , and taking control of the airplane. The airplane came to rest pitched downward, so that the nose of the airplane rested on a mud flat of the Flushing Bay Tidal, which at the time of the accident, was above the waterline.