www.ncburndisaster.org

Last Updated:  06/08/09

Although the photos have various contribution tags on them, they were collectively found on the CNN Public Website at http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/South/01/08/cnna.bridges/index.html on October 16, 2007.  The one exception was the graphic that is found in the lower right which came from the BBC Public Website, found at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2639373.stm

NTSB Identification: DCA03MA022.
The docket is stored in the Docket Management System (DMS). Please contact Records Management Division
Scheduled 14 CFR Part 121: Air Carrier operation of AIR MIDWEST INC (D.B.A. US Airways Express)
Accident occurred Wednesday, January 08, 2003 in Charlotte, NC
Probable Cause Approval Date: 6/29/2004
Aircraft: Beech 1900D, registration: N233YV
Injuries: 21 Fatal, 1 Minor.

The Safety Board's full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/publictn.htm . The Aircraft Accident Report number is NTSB/AAR-04/01.

On January 8, 2003, about 0847:28 eastern standard time, Air Midwest (doing business as US Airways Express) flight 5481, a Raytheon (Beechcraft) 1900D, N233YV, crashed shortly after takeoff from runway 18R at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, Charlotte, North Carolina. The 2 flight crewmembers and 19 passengers aboard the airplane were killed, 1 person on the ground received minor injuries, and the airplane was destroyed by impact forces and a post crash fire. Flight 5481 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight to Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport, Greer, South Carolina, and was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 on an instrument flight rules flight plan. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident.

 

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:

the airplane's loss of pitch control during take-off. The loss of pitch control resulted from the incorrect rigging of the elevator system compounded by the airplane's aft center of gravity, which was substantially aft of the certified aft limit.

Contributing to the cause of the accident were (1) Air Midwest's lack of oversight of the work being performed at the Huntington, West Virginia, maintenance station; (2) Air Midwest's maintenance procedures and documentation; (3) Air Midwest's weight and balance program at the time of the accident; (4) the Raytheon Aerospace quality assurance inspector's failure to detect the incorrect rigging of the elevator control system; (5) the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) average weight assumptions in its weight and balance program guidance at the time of the accident; and (6) the FAA's lack of oversight of Air Midwest's maintenance program and its weight and balance program.

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20030110X00049&key=1

Photo top left attributed to: http://www.airliners.net/open.file/308931/L/

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