Mountain Air Cargo - Incidents and Accidents

Incidents and Accidents

• October 11, 1985 - Mountain Air Cargo De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 200 (N3257), on a flight from State College to Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, collided with rising terrain near Homer City, probably due to pilot error. The pilot was killed. There was no one else on board.

• January 19, 1988 - Mountain Air Cargo De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 200 (N996SA), on a flight from Erie, Pennsylvania to Charlotte, North Carolina, descended below the glide path on approach to Charlotte/Douglas International Airport, collided with a tree and struck the ground 1.6 km away from the airport. The crash was due to pilot error. The pilot was severely injured. (The pilot was fatally injured two years later flying for another cargo carrier) There was no one else on board.

• January 9, 1998 - Mountain Air Cargo Cessna 208B Caravan I Super Cargomaster, on take off from Maiden-Little Mountain Airport, North Carolina, on a flight to Greensboro, veered off the runway and hit trees as it tried to ascend. The crash was determined to be due to pilot error, as the pilot had not removed the control gust lock prior to taking off. The pilot was killed. There was no one else on board.

• March 8, 2003 - Mountain Air Cargo Fokker F27-500 N712FE, en route from Greensboro, North Carolina to New Bern North Carolina, indicated an unsafe landing gear condition during the approach to New Bern. A tower flyby was performed, and the tower controller confirmed the right gear was not fully extended. The pilot declared an emergency and diverted to Kinston, North Carolina Regional Jetport to conduct an emergency landing. On landing roll the right main landing gear collapsed and the airplane slid off of the runway. Examination of the right main landing gear revealed the drag brace was fractured. The aircraft was retired from service. There were no casualties.

• April 27, 2004 - Mountain Air Cargo Fokker F27-500 N715FE departed Buenos Aires, Argentina for a cargo flight to São Paulo-Viracopos, Brazil via Porto Alegre. En route on the first leg, a crew member noticed the presence of smoke and discovered a fire in the cargo bay. Efforts to extinguish the fire were unsuccessful. The crew declared an in-flight emergency to Montevideo control center. The crew effected a safe emergency landing at Melo, Uruguay, a small airport nearby. The crew evacuated the aircraft. Fire fighters arrived and succeeded in extinguishing the fire. The airplane suffered considerable damage in the cargo compartments E and F. There were no casualties. The fire was caused by improperly packaged and labeled hazardous materials.

• May 8, 2008 - Two ATR 42-320s owned by FedEx Express (N904FX and N905FX) were severely damaged by a tornado while parked on the ramp at Piedmont Triad International Airport, Greensboro, North Carolina. Neither aircraft was occupied at the time, and there were no injuries. They were removed from service, sold to a salvage operator and scrapped.

• September 29, 2012 - Mountain Air Cargo 8553, a ATR 42 twin-engine plane, successfully landed at Duluth International Airport in Duluth, Minnesota. The plane landed while missing a front tire, after circling the airport trying to burn off extra fuel before attempting to land.