Investigation Summary
The flight was a scheduled early morning service with planned stops in Saranac Lake and Albany. During the approach to Runway 23 at Adirondack Regional Airport, the aircraft struck a hill at approximately 5:45 am. The investigation was hampered by the lack of a flight data recorder, which was not required for this aircraft type, and a cockpit voice recorder that was rendered unusable by post-crash fire. Consequently, the NTSB relied on air traffic control radar data, wreckage analysis, and survivor testimony to reconstruct the event. The findings highlighted a breakdown in cockpit coordination: the Captain failed to maintain a stable approach profile and descended below minimum altitudes, while the First Officer failed to adequately monitor the descent. Environmental factors, specifically weather and precipitation static, were cited as contributing factors that likely caused the glide slope needle to provide inaccurate vertical guidance.
Final Conclusions
The National Transportation Safety Board determined the probable cause was the failure of the flight crew to properly monitor the approach and the Captain's failure to stabilize the aircraft's flight path. Contributing to the accident were the prevailing weather conditions and possible precipitation static interference, which may have resulted in unreliable glide slope indications.
Video Analysis
No video analysis linked for this case file yet.
Airframe & Maintenance
Crew Experience
Captain
Kevin St. Germain, age 30. Survived the accident. Held 2,700 hours as PIC.
Systems & Failure Modes
Instrument Landing System (ILS)
The ground-based system providing lateral and vertical guidance; investigators believe precipitation static may have caused the glide slope component to provide unreliable data.
Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR)
A device intended to record flight deck audio, which in this case was recovered but found to be fire-damaged beyond utility.
Interesting Facts
- 01The aircraft was not equipped with a flight data recorder as it was not required by regulations at the time.
- 02The cockpit voice recorder was recovered but the data was unusable due to fire damage.
- 03One of the two passengers on board was an off-duty CommutAir employee.
- 04The aircraft was relatively new and the crew was considered experienced prior to the accident.
Safety Actions & Advisories
A-94-74
Source ↗Issue an airworthiness directive for Beechcraft 1900C airplanes to require regular inspections or modifications to assure the proper electrical ground of the conductive nose radome coating to the metal airframe.
A-94-75
Source ↗Review avionics certification test requirements to assure adequate attention to the potential effects of precipitation static, including exposure to broadband interference caused by an open electrical discharge.
A-94-76
Source ↗Provide advisory information to pilots that static noise on navigation or communications frequencies may warn of incipient P-static interference, and revise the Airman's Information Manual to address these hazards.