Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Hamilton Canada
Friday, May 9, 1997 6:30 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On May 9, 1997, about 0630 eastern daylight time, a British Aerospace BA-31, N854JS, operated by Chautauqua Airlines, doing business as US Airways Express, was substantially damaged when both engines were started with engine air inlet plugs installed, at the Hamilton Airport, Ontario, Canada. The certificated airline transport pilot, copilot, and 10 passengers were not injured. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed for the passenger flight destined for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. An instrument flight rules flight plan had been filed for the flight conducted under 14 CFR Part 121.
According to the first officer's (FO) written statement, he installed the engine air inlet plugs at the completion of flying, the evening of May 8, 1997. During the morning of May 9, 1997, the FO preflighted the airplane. He further stated:
"...I preflighted as per the POH Normal External Checklist. When checking left and right power plant intakes, intakes appeared clear, plugs were not in the position I had left them the night before. I assumed they had been removed by the ground crew...Each engine started normally. When engine speeds were pushed forwarded, we noticed abnormal EGT readings, thought the SRL was malfunctioning...The captain did a precautionary shutdown. After investigation FO found intake plugs were in both engines..."
In the captain's statement, he said that both engine starts were uneventful, and that the exhaust gas temperatures (EGT) of the left and right engines remained normal until the engine speeds were increased for takeoff. At that time the EGT readings on the engines fluctuated, and the captain shut down both engines. The FO exited the airplane, examined the engines, and observed the intake plugs in both engines. The captain was advised by his company operations to restart the engines and proceed to Pittsburgh. A subsequent attempt to start the right engine resulted in a "hot start."
The owner of a maintenance facility at the airport was requested by Chautauqua Airlines to examine the airplane's engines the morning of May 9, 1997. The owner sent a mechanic to perform a visual inspection of the engines, which revealed foreign object damage to the compressor sections of both engines. The owner of the maintenance facility notified the airline of the inspection results. According to the owner, the airline then changed both engines with mechanics employed by the airline.
The preflight of the airplane occurred before sunrise, and the weather at the airport was reported to be 300 foot sky obscured, with a visibility of 1/2 mile and fog.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/9/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 630 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | HAMILTON |
| Event State | -- |
| Event Country | CANADA |
| Zipcode of the event site | |
| Event Date Year | 1997 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Unknown |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 700 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | YHM |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| Lighting Conditions | Not Reported |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 300 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Obscured |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 0.5 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 8 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 8 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 230 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| 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 | 12 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 7000 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 14 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1400 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 31 2003 12:19PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\ZUZL |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N854JS |
| NTSB Number | NYC97WA091 |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Aircraft Explosion | Unknown |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | British Aerospace |
| Aircraft Model | BA-31 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | BA-31 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | Unknown |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | -- |
| Number of Engines | -- |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | |
| Aircraft Owner City | |
| Aircraft Owner State | |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | BOX 160, 2500 S. HIGH SCHOL RD |
| Operator City | INDIANAPOLIS |
| Operator State | IN |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 46241 |
| Operator Code | CHQA |
| 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 | International |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | Unknown |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | YHM |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 0 |
| Departure Time Zone | |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | PIT |
| Destination City | PITTSBURGH |
| Destination State | PA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Standing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 31 2000 8:08PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |