Air Midwest Flight 5481

Air Midwest Flight 5481

Accident summary
Date	January 8, 2003 (2003-01-08)
Type	Overweight on the back (due to baggage and fuel), Human Error, Improper maintenance (Skipping steps in the flight maintenance manual), Calculation Error
Site	Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
Passengers	19
Crew	2
Injuries	1 (on ground)
Fatalities	21 (all inside the plane)
Survivors	0
Aircraft type	Beechcraft 1900D
Operator	Air Midwest as US Airways Express
Tail number	N233YV
Flight origin	Charlotte/Douglas International Airport
Destination	Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport

Air Midwest Flight 5481 operating as US Airways Express Flight 5481, was a flight from Charlotte/Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States to Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport near the cities of Greenville, South Carolina and Spartanburg, South Carolina; on January 8, 2003 a Beechcraft 1900D operated by Air Midwest as US Airways Express under a franchise agreement used for the route stalled after take-off, crashed into a US Airways hangar and burst into flames 37 seconds after leaving Charlotte/Douglas International Airport.

All nineteen passengers and two pilots aboard died in the accident, and one person on the ground received minor injuries. None of the US Airways employees working in the hangar received injuries.^[1]

Crew and passengers

This is a list by residence ^[2]:

Residence	Passengers	Crew	Total
Bahamas	3	0	3
Canada	1	0	1
India	2	0	2
Portugal	1	0	1
United States	12	2	14
Total	19	2	21

The resident of the Azores, Portugal was a U.S. citizen.^[3][4]

Katie Leslie served as the captain and Jonathan Gibbs served as the first officer. Both were based at the Charlotte station.^[2][5][6]

Cause of the crash

The investigators determined the crash to have been the result of two separate issues.

After take-off, the plane climbed steeply before stalling, despite both pilots pushing the control column forward. The aircraft's most recent service involved adjusting the elevator control cable, and was performed two nights before the crash at a repair facility located at Tri-State Airport in Huntington, West Virginia. During the investigation, it emerged that the mechanic who worked on the elevator cables had never worked on this type of aircraft. Investigation revealed that turnbuckles controlling tension on the cables to the elevators had been set incorrectly, resulting in insufficient elevator travel, leading to the pilots not having sufficient pitch control. Although a post-adjustment control test would normally be conducted to ensure proper operation, the maintenance supervisor who was instructing the mechanic decided to skip this step. The NTSB noted that the FAA was aware of "serious deficiencies" in the training procedures at the facility, but had done nothing to correct them.^[7]

Although the pilots had totaled up the take-off weight of the aircraft before the flight and determined it to be within limits, the plane was actually overloaded and out of balance, due to the use of incorrect, but Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-approved, passenger weight estimates. When checked, the National Transportation Safety Board found that the estimates were over 20 pounds (9 kg) lighter than the actual weight of an average passenger. After checking the actual weight of baggage retrieved from the crash site, and passengers (based on information from next-of-kin and the medical examiner), it was found that the aircraft was actually 580 pounds (264 kg) above its maximum allowable take-off weight, with its center of gravity 5% to the rear of the allowable limit.

It was determined that neither problem alone would have caused the loss of control, which explains why it departed Huntington, West Virginia safely.

Aftermath

As a result of the weight issues discovered, the FAA planned to investigate and potentially revise estimated weight values, something that had not been done since 1936. Air Midwest used an average weight of 200 pounds (90.7 kg) per passenger after the accident, but the NTSB suggests that airlines use actual weights instead of average. 70% of small air carriers still use average.^[4] Air Midwest publicly apologized for the incident after the family of crash victim Christiana Grace Shepherd pressured the airline to do so. Air Midwest ceased operations in 2008.^[4][8][9]

Dramatization

The crash was featured in a Mayday (Air Crash Investigation, Air Emergency) episode entitled "Dead Weight," first broadcast in the United Kingdom on the National Geographic Channel in early 2008. This episode also suggested that the actions of Captain Katie Leslie in the final moments of the flight may have diverted the plane from a direct collision with a hangar on the ground. Such a collision may have caused further casualties.

Images

• 

  US Airways hangar at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport as viewed from Terminal in 2009.

• 

  US Airways hangar at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport viewed from Runway 18R.

• 

  Detail view of crash location at northwest corner of US Airways hangar at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport viewed from Runway 5.

References

1. ^ "AIR MIDWEST FLIGHT 5481 NOTIFICATION #2", US Airways
2. ^ ^{a b} "AIR MIDWEST 5481 CREW AND PASSENGER NAME LIST AMPLIFICATION," US Airways
3. ^ "More families sue airlines, maintenance companies and plane maker in Charlotte US Airways / Air Midwest crash", Baum Hedlund
4. ^ ^{a b c} "Dead Weight", Mayday
5. ^ "AIR MIDWEST FLIGHT 5481 CREW AND PARTIAL PASSENGER NAME LIST NOTIFICATION #4", US Airways
6. ^ "AIR MIDWEST FLIGHT 5481 CREW AND PASSENGER NAME LIST UPDATE NOTIFICATION #5", US Airways
7. ^ "LOSS OF PITCH CONTROL CAUSED FATAL AIRLINER CRASH IN CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA LAST YEAR", NTSB SB-04-03, 26 February 2004
8. ^ Hedlund, Paul J. and Ronald L. M. Goldman. "Another Level of Justice: The Public Apology." Andrews Litigation Reporter (at Baum Hedlund Law). 25 April 2006. Volume 24, Issue 5.
9. ^ "Companies Accept Responsibility and Publicly Apologize to the Families of the 8 January 2003 Air Midwest Flight 5481 Crash in Charlotte, North Carolina." Baum Hedlund Law. Accessed 27 October 2008.

External links

	North Carolina portal
	Aviation portal
	Disasters portal

• Air Midwest (d.b.a. US Airways Express) Flight 5481; Charlotte, North Carolina; January 8, 2003 (DCA03MA022) - National Transportation Safety Board’’ News page for the incident
• STATEMENT BY US AIRWAYS PRESIDENT AND CEO DAVID SIEGEL ON AIR MIDWEST ACCIDENT US Airways
• Incident Involving US Airways Express Flight 5481 Operated by Air Midwest, Inc. Mesa Airlines
• Investigation from National Transportation Safety Board
• Investigators check black boxes from N.C. plane crash
• More About Flight 5481 Passengers, Crew
• Flight 5481 Memorial website
• NTSB Animation: Air Midwest Flight 5481; Beechcraft 1900 Accident Investigation; Charlotte, NC

Coordinates: 35°12′25″N 80°56′46.85″W / 35.20694°N 80.9463472°W / 35.20694; -80.9463472