Accident
On December 12, 1976, at approximately 2326 local time, Atlantic City Airlines, Inc., operating as Allegheny Commuter Flight 977, crashed about 4,000 feet short of the approach end of runway 19 at Cape May County Airport, New Jersey. The aircraft was a De Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter, registration N101AC. The flight was conducting a VOR approach to runway 23 with a circle-to-land maneuver to runway 19. Of the ten persons aboard, four died of injuries sustained in the crash. The aircraft was destroyed.
Weather Conditions
Approximately ten minutes before the accident, official observation logs at Cape May County Airport reported the sky was obscured with an indefinite ceiling of 400 feet. Visibility was one mile in fog. The wind was from 250 degrees at 6 knots. Visibility was one mile to the south and west, and one and a half miles to the east and north.
Probable Cause
According to the official investigation, the probable cause was the flight crew's lack of altitude awareness during a circling approach, permitting the aircraft's flight path to deviate below a safe approach profile. The aircraft's rate of descent and descent flight path angle increased as a result of windshear encountered during visual approach below minimum descent altitude. The flight crew did not recognize these flight path deviations because they were relying on visual references degraded by non-homogeneous fog and on kinesthetic cues adversely affected by the aircraft's forward center of gravity resulting from improper loading. Contributing to the accident was the lack of company procedures requiring altitude callouts during the visual portion of an approach.