U.S.

History Of Jetstream Accidents

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

May 22, 2000 / 11:33 AM EDT / CBS

A Jetstream 31 charter plane killed all 19 people aboard crashed Sunday after experiencing engine problems as it approached the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport in Pennsylvania.

CBS News Correspondent Bob Orr reports the plane itself had a spotless safety record, but similar models crashed three times in the 1990s.

"The elements they all have in common is they all involved bad weather, they all crashed on the approach to landing and they all appear to involve some sort of pilot error," said David S. Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association, a Washington D.C.-based organization that represents airline passengers.

NTSB spokesman George Black said on CBS News The Early Show investigators will look into the history of the plane and into a database of crashes involving similar models.

Jetstream 31 Stats

According to the manufacturer's Web site, the BA-31 Jetstream is a short-haul, 19-seat, turboprop aircraft and is made by BAE Systems, a company created through the merger of British Aerospace and Marconi Electronic Systems.

The company promotes the plane as having the largest cabin in its class and as the only 19-seater with toilet and galley facilities.

Cabin length: 24 feet 3 inches
Wingspan: 52 feet
Maximum Cruise Altitude: 25,000 feet
Maximum Takeoff Weight: 15,212 lb
Maximum Landing Weight: 14,900 lb
Maximum Payload: 3,689 lb
Maximum Fuel Capacity: 3,024 lb
Engine: Honeywell TPE331-10
Propeller: 4-Blade Dowty, 106-inch diameter

A Jetstream 31 operated by Northwest Airlines affiliate Express Airlines
slammed into a snow-covered hillside short of the runway in Hibbing, Minn., on Dec. 1, 1993, killing all 18 people aboard. Icing conditions and pilot error were blamed, Stempler said. The plane's cockpit voice recorder indicated that the crew was unaware of any trouble before the crash.

A Jetstream 32 - nearly identical to the Jetstream 31 - crashed Dec. 13, 1994, in fog and drizzle as it approached Raleigh-Durham (N.C.) International Airport, killing 15 of 20 people aboard. The cockpit voice recorder showed that the pilots on the American Eagle flight feared a possible engine malfunction shortly before the crash, but the National Transportation Safety Board's report found no evidence of engine failure.

A Jetstream 41 crashed on Jan. 7, 994, as it approached the runway in Columbus, Ohio. The larger plane carries 29 passengers; the other Jetstream models hold 19. The Atlantic Coast Airways charter - a United Express affiliate - crashed in darkness, fog and snow after a bad approach to the runway and a poor recovery response from the crew, Stempler said.

Generally, the smaller planes are safer now than they were at the time of the earlier crashes because of improved operating standards initiated by the FAA in 1997, he said.

"One of the problems in the older days was you had the least skilled pilots operating the least sophisticated airplanes into the most poorly equipped airports and into the most trying circumstances," Stempler said.