Air Tahoma - Incidents and Accidents

Incidents and Accidents

• In October 2003, an Air Tahoma aircraft caught fire upon landing.

• January 7, 2004, one of the Convair 580s lost all oil pressure from one engine and was forced to make an emergency landing while in Memphis.

• Air Tahoma Flight 185 crashed during approach to landing just 1¼ mile short of the runway at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport on the 13 August 2004. The crash killed the First Officer Ray Gelwicks and the Captain received minor injuries. NTSB ruled that the crash was due to a dual engine flameout as a result of the Captain being distracted with preflight planning during the flight, Captain didn't follow proper crossfeeding procedures, and Flight Crew didn't monitor the fuel gauges. There was sufficient fuel on board and nothing was wrong with the aircraft systems.

• Air Tahoma Flight 587

On September 1, 2008 an Air Tahoma Convair 580 crashed in Pickaway County, Ohio, shortly after taking off from Rickenbacker International Airport, claiming the lives of the 3 crew members. The FAA and NTSB are investigating. Rickenbacker International Airport is 16 miles (26 km) southeast of Columbus, Ohio. The crash happened around the Noon hour.

NTSB Identification: CHI08MA270 14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation Accident occurred Monday, September 1, 2008 in Columbus, OH Probable Cause Approval Date: 6/22/2009 Aircraft: CONVAIR CV-580, registration: N587X Injuries: 3 Fatal.

The accident flight was the first flight following maintenance that included flight control cable rigging. The flight was also intended to provide cockpit familiarization for the first officer and the pilot observer, and as a training flight for the first officer. About one minute after takeoff, the first officer contacted the tower and stated that they needed to return to land. The airplane impacted a cornfield about one mile southwest of the approach end of the runway, and 2 minutes 40 seconds after the initiation of the takeoff roll. The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) indicated that, during the flight, neither the captain nor the first officer called for the landing gear to be raised, the flaps to be retracted, or the power levers to be reduced from full power. From the time the first officer called "rotate" until the impact, the captain repeated the word "pull" about 27 times. When the observer pilot asked, "Come back on the trim?" the captain responded, "There's nothing anymore on the trim." The inspection of the airplane revealed that the elevator trim cables were rigged improperly, which resulted in the trim cables being reversed. As a result, when the pilot applied nose-up trim, the elevator trim system actually applied nose-down trim. An examination of the maintenance instruction cards used to conduct the last inspection revealed that the inspector's block on numerous checks were not signed off by the Required Inspection Item (RII) inspector. The RII inspector did not sign the item that stated: "Connect elevator servo trim tab cables and rig in accordance with Allison Convair ...” The item had been signed off by the mechanic, but not by the RII inspector. The card also contained a NOTE, which stated in bold type, "A complete inspection of all elevator controls must be accomplished and signed off by an RII qualified inspector and a logbook entry made to this effect." The RII inspector block was not signed off.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows: The improper (reverse) rigging of the elevator trim cables by company maintenance personnel, and their subsequent failure to discover the misrigging during required post-maintenance checks. Contributing to the accident was the captain’s inadequate post-maintenance preflight check.