Rapid City Regional Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Rapid City, South Dakota 57701
Saturday, January 17, 2004 22:11 MST

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

The airplane, being operated on a scheduled passenger flight, contacted the runway with the left wing tip, following a loss of control while landing. Weather conditions were varying due to freezing fog that was moving into and out of the area. The control tower at the destination airport was closed and the airplane was being controlled by a near-by approach control facility. After holding in-flight to wait for the weather to improve, the crew began the instrument landing system (ILS) approach when the visibility was reported as one-half mile. The captain stated that almost immediately upon entering the top of the fog layer they received an ICE caution message. He stated they turned on the wing and engine inlet anti-ice, but the ice accumulation on the windshield wipers was rapid and ice was accumulating on the winglet. The captain stated the approach lights came into sight when they were just above minimums and that he had the runway in sight at approximately 140 feet above the ground. The first officer then disconnected the autopilot and the nose came up slightly. He stated he informed the first officer to keep the nose down and add thrust. The captain stated they were slightly left of the centerline and the first officer was making "small" corrections back to the right. He stated the airspeed was just inside the "bottom of the bucket" and the trend vector was indicating a decrease in airspeed. The captain stated he "again said something about more thrust and keeping the nose down." He stated the airplane continued to move to the right of the centerline and he took control of the airplane. He stated the airplane responded "poorly" feeling "heavy and sluggish." The captain stated the airplane was close to the right side of the runway and he added thrust at which time the ailerons became more responsive. He stated the left wing dropped, scraping the runway, at about the same time the left main gear touched down. The captain stated the airplane bounced into the air then landed hard on the runway. The crew then taxied the airplane to the gate. The first officer stated that when the captain reported having the runway in sight, she transitioned her sight outside of the airplane and realized she needed to correct to the right. She stated she began the correction at which time the nose of the airplane pitched up, the airplane veered toward the correction, and it started sinking toward the right side of the runway. She stated the captain took over the controls, but the airplane dropped to the runway, bounced, and touched down harder the second time. The first officer, who was flying the approach, had about 15 hours of total flight time in the CL-600. The captain, who was also a check airman, had a total of 1,196 hours of flight time in the CL-600. At the time of the accident the local weather was reported as being visibility 1/4 mile in freezing fog, vertical visibility 100 feet. Inspection of the airport and airplane on the afternoon following the incident revealed ice was still visible on the antennas, windshield wipers, radome, winglets, and horizontal and vertical stabilizers. The main body of ice on these structures measured between one-half to five-eights of an inch thick and that the main body of ice plus the "ice spines" totaled three-quarters of an inch thick. A Kinematic parameter extraction showed loss of lift consistent with airframe icing but there was no early stall due to icing prior to touchdown and no indication that airframe icing had caused any loss of control. Marks on the ground and on the runway revealed the airplane initially touched down 1,976 feet from the approach end of the runway with the right main landing gear in the grass off the side of the runway. The left wing tip then left a 63-foot long scrape mark on the runway, which was followed about 1,100 feet later by another set of tire marks. Data from the flight data recorder showed the airplane rolled slightly to the left followed by a roll to the right when the autopilot was disengaged. It then showed the airplane touched down with a vertical acceleration of at least 1.8g's. The airplane then became airborne in a 16-degree left bank, with a 5-degree nose up pitch at which time the ground and flight spoilers deployed contributing to the firmness of the 3.25 g touchdown one second later.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The copilot's failure to maintain control of the airplane during the landing and the captain's delay in initiating remedial action. Factors contributing to the accident were the low ceiling and low visibility due to fog, and the aircraft's deviation from expected performance due to airframe icing.

Event Information

Type of Event Incident
Event Date 1/17/2004
Event Day of the Week Saturday
Time of Event 2211
Event Time Zone Mountain Standard Time
Event City Rapid City
Event State SOUTH DAKOTA
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 57701
Event Date Year 2004
Event Date Month 1
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 440243N
Event Location Longitude 1030326W
Event Location Airport Rapid City Regional Airport
Event Location Nearest Airport ID RAP
Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport On Airport
Distance from airport in statute miles 0
Degrees magnetic from airport 0
Airport Elevation 3202
Weather Briefing Completeness --
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 2211 Mountain Standard Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 0
Weather Observation Facility ID RAP
Elevation of weather observation facility 3204
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 0
Time Zone of the weather observation MST
Lighting Conditions Night
Lowest Ceiling Height 100
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height --
Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions --
Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling Indefinite (V V)
Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) --
Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) --
Visibility (Statute Miles) 0.25
Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) -2
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) -2
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 70
Variable Wind Indicator Wind direction could be determined
Wind Speed (knots) 6
Wind Velocity Indicator --
Wind Gust Indicator Not Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) --
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 30.13
Density Altitude (feet) 1718
Intensity of Precipitation --
METAR weather report --
Event Highest Injury None
On Ground, Fatal Injuries --
On Ground, Minor Injuries --
On Ground, Serious Injuries --
Injury Total Fatal --
Injury Total Minor --
Injury Total None 35
Injury Total Serious --
Injury Total All --
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 21071
NTSB Notification Source FAA
NTSB Notification Date Jan 17 2004 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 1150
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information DMS
Date of most recent change to record Feb 2 2007 2:17PM
User who most recently changed record NTSB\johb
Basic weather conditions Instrument Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office Rapid City, SD FSDO

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N595SW
NTSB Number CHI04IA056
Missing Aircraft Indicator --
Federal Aviation Reg. Part Part 121: Air Carrier
Type of Flight Plan filed IFR
Flight plan Was Activated? Yes
Damage Minor
Aircraft Fire None
Aircraft Explosion None
Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name Bombardier
Aircraft Model CL-600-2B19
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number 7292
Certified Max Gross Weight 53000
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 54
Number of Engines 2
Fixed gear or retractable gear Retractable
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection Continuous Airworthiness
Date of Last Inspection Jan 17 2004 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 7
Airframe Hours 11883
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name Wachovia Bank NA Trustee
Aircraft Owner Street Address 230 S Tryon St.
Aircraft Owner City Charlotte
Aircraft Owner State NC
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 28202
Operator is an individual? No
Operator Name SKYWEST AIRLINES INC
Operator Same as Owner? No
Operator Is Doing Business As --
Operator Address Same as Owner? No
Operator Street Address 444 South River Road
Operator City St. George
Operator State UT
Operator Country USA
Operator Zip code 84790
Operator Code SWIA
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 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 SLC
Departure City SALT LAKE CITY
Departure State UT
Departure Country USA
Departure Time 2035
Departure Time Zone MST
Destination Same as Local Flt crash at destination city
Destination Airport Code RAP
Destination City Rapid City
Destination State SD
Destination Country USA
Specific Phase of Flight Landing - flare/touchdown
Report sent to ICAO? Yes
Evacuation occurred No
Date of most recent change to record Oct 6 2005 3:05PM
User who most recently changed record SULP
Since inspection or accident Time of Accident
Event Location Runway Number and Location 32
Runway Length 8701
Runway Width 150
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --