Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Snow Hill, Virginia 23337
Wednesday, July 21, 2004 8:15 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The flight crew received a traffic advisory (TA) alert from the Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS), followed shortly by an aural resolution advisory (RA) warning to "CLIMB, CLIMB." The first officer (FO) then disconnected the autopilot and initiated a climb, at a rate of ascent of 1,500 feet per minute. The captain then announced he was taking the controls and proceeded to pitch the airplane at a greater angle. As the airplane ascended, the flight attendant fell to the floor and broke her ankle. Once the TCAS announced, "clear of conflict," the captain leveled the airplane at 30,000 feet. He then returned the controls to the FO, and the airplane was descended back to an assigned altitude of FL 290. A review of radar data and air traffic control information, revealed that the accident airplane was climbing at a rate of 2,500 feet per minute and an airspeed of 483 knots. The airplane which caused the traffic alert for the accident airplane was an MD-80, which was climbing at 2,000 feet per minute, and an airspeed of 433 knots. The closest proximity between the two aircraft was 1.54 nautical miles, and 1,500 feet. According to the operator's Flight Standards Manual, "the correct response to a corrective RA is to fly from the red zone into the green zone. This maneuver requires a response within 5 seconds of the advisory using approximately a 0.25g maneuver". A performance review of the radar data revealed the flight crew's maneuver in response to the TCAS alert included a 1,000-foot climb, followed immediately by a descent back to the airplane’s assigned altitude. The maneuver described by the radar data could be performed using an initial 1.15 G pull-up to start the climb, followed by a 0.05 push-over to arrest the climb and start the descent, followed by a 1.4 G pull-up to level the airplane at the assigned altitude. In this sequence, the time between the 0.05 G push-over and the 1.4 G level-off was about 5 seconds.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's excessive maneuvering in response to a TCAS alert, which resulted in a serious injury to the flight attendant.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/21/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 815 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Snow Hill |
| Event State | VIRGINIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 23337 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 380323N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0752750W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 754 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 180 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | WAL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 40 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 7 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 4 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 20 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 350 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 4 |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 19404 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Eastern Region Ops Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 21 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1115 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 28 2006 1:55PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Garden City FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N995CA |
| NTSB Number | NYC04LA174 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | None |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Bombardier |
| Aircraft Model | CL-600 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 7229 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 53000 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 53 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 1 2004 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 15817 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | COMAIR INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 77 Comair Blvd |
| Aircraft Owner City | Erlanger |
| Aircraft Owner State | KY |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 41018 |
| 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 | COMA |
| 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 | CHS |
| Departure City | CHARLESTON |
| Departure State | SC |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 630 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | JFK |
| Destination City | NEW YORK |
| Destination State | NY |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 11 2006 12:34PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MUZD |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |