Accident Summary
On January 8, 2003, about 0847:28 eastern standard time, Air Midwest Flight 5481 (operating as US Airways Express) crashed shortly after takeoff from runway 18R at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina. The aircraft, a Raytheon (Beechcraft) 1900D registered as N233YV, was destroyed by impact forces and a post-crash fire. The two flight crewmembers and 19 passengers aboard were killed; one person on the ground received minor injuries.
Flight Details
Flight 5481 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight to Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport in Greer, South Carolina. The flight was operating under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 on an instrument flight rules flight plan. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident.
Investigation and Probable Cause
The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable cause of the accident was the airplane's loss of pitch control during takeoff. The loss of pitch control resulted from the incorrect rigging of the elevator control system, compounded by the airplane's aft center of gravity, which was substantially aft of the certified aft limit. Contributing to the cause were: 1) Air Midwest's lack of oversight of work performed at the Huntington, West Virginia, maintenance station; 2) Air Midwest's maintenance procedures and documentation; 3) Air Midwest's weight and balance program at the time; 4) the Raytheon Aerospace quality assurance inspector's failure to detect the incorrect elevator rigging; 5) the Federal Aviation Administration's average weight assumptions in its weight and balance program guidance; and 6) the FAA's lack of oversight of Air Midwest's maintenance and weight and balance programs.