Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Wilkes-Barre Scranton Int'l Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Bear Creek Town, Pennsylvania
Sunday, May 21, 2000 11:28 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The Board's full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/publictn.htm.
On May 21, 2000, about 1128 eastern daylight time (EDT), a British Aerospace Jetstream 3101, N16EJ, operated by East Coast Aviation Services (doing business as Executive Airlines) crashed about 11 miles south of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport (AVP), Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The airplane was destroyed by impact and a postcrash fire, and 17 passengers and two flight crewmembers were killed. The flight was being conducted under 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 135 as an on-demand charter flight for Caesar’s Palace Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. An instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan had been filed for the flight from Atlantic City International Airport (ACY) to AVP.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The flight crew’s failure to ensure an adequate fuel supply for the flight, which led to the stoppage of the right engine due to fuel exhaustion and the intermittent stoppage of the left engine due to fuel starvation. Contributing to the accident were the flight crew's failure to monitor the airplane’s fuel state and the flight crew's failure to maintain directional control after the initial engine stoppage.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/21/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1128 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Bear Creek Town |
| Event State | PENNSYLVANIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | -- |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 410914N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0754532W |
| Event Location Airport | Wilkes-Barre Scranton Int'l |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | AVP |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 962 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1123 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 360 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | AVP |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 962 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 9 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 500 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 2.5 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 11 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 260 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.04 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 600 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Light |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 19 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 19 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 13533 |
| NTSB Notification Source | CommCenter |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 8 2003 11:25AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N16EJ |
| NTSB Number | DCA00MA052 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | British Aerospace |
| Aircraft Model | J-3101 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 834 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| 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 | 19 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 15 2000 12:00AM |
| 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 | East Coast Aviation Services |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | Hangar #3, Route 109, Republic Airport |
| Aircraft Owner City | Farmingdale |
| Aircraft Owner State | NY |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 11735 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| 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 | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | Non-scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | ACY |
| Departure City | Atlantic City |
| Departure State | NJ |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1030 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | AVP |
| Destination City | Wilkes Barre |
| Destination State | PA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 7 2003 12:43PM |
| User who most recently changed record | JOHB |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |