Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Portland International Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Portland, Oregon 97201
Sunday, April 6, 1997 13:48 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The ramp agent handling the flight, who is required by company procedures to check doors secured during a pre-departure check, stated, '...upon my releasing them to taxi I did not notice anything different, all doors were closed.' The captain reported that as the gear was brought up on takeoff, the flightcrew heard a 'loud wind noise.' He stated that they had no indications of anything wrong on the annunciator panel (which contains a red CARGO DOOR warning light to indicate that the cargo door is open or not secure.) He reported that they then looked in the back of the aircraft, and the passengers told them that the cargo door had come open. The crew then returned to land. An inventory of the cargo compartment contents after landing revealed that no baggage had been lost. During postaccident examination of the aircraft, the aft cargo door locking handle was observed in the unlocked position as the door was swung down, and visual inspection of the aft cargo door locks, switches, and annunciator cargo door warning systems found no discrepancies with the aft cargo door or its indicating/warning system.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the flightcrew's inadequate preflight, and the ramp agent's inadequate dispatch of the aircraft. The unsecured cargo door was a factor.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/6/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1348 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | PORTLAND |
| Event State | OREGON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 97201 |
| Event Date Year | 1997 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | PORTLAND INTERNATIONAL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KPDX |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 50 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | 0 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 13 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 14 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 749 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 10 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1430 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 12:14PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N75ZV |
| NTSB Number | SEA97LA085 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Beech |
| Aircraft Model | 1900D |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 1900D |
| Aircraft Serial Number | UE-75 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 16950 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 21 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | MESA AIRLINES INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 2325 E. 30TH ST. |
| Aircraft Owner City | FARMINGTON |
| Aircraft Owner State | NM |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 87401 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| Operator Code | MASA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | Scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger/Cargo |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | PDX |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 2046 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | YKM |
| Destination City | YAKIMA |
| Destination State | WA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:30AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 10L |
| Runway Length | 8000 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |