Date:	Monday 12 February 1979
Time:	13:00
Type:	Mohawk 298 (Nord 262)
Owner/operator:	Allegheny Airlines
Registration:	N29824
MSN:	48
Year of manufacture:	1968
Total airframe hrs:	9140 hours
Engine model:	Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-45
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 25
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed, written off
Category:	Accident
Location:	Clarksburg-Benedum Airport, WV (CKB) -   United States of America
Phase:	Initial climb
Nature:	Passenger - Scheduled
Departure airport:	Clarksburg-Benedum Airport, WV (CKB/KCKB)
Destination airport:	Washington-National Airport, DC (DCA/KDCA)
Investigating agency:	NTSB
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
At 11:16 Allegheny Flight 561 departed Clarksburg for a flight to Morgantown, WV but the pilot decided not to make an approach at Morgantown because the ILS glide slope was out of service, and the visibility was 1/2 mile. The flight returned to Clarksburg and landed at 11:46.
The aircraft was refueled and prepared for a rescheduled flight 561 to Washington-National Airport. The Nord 262 was de-iced between 12:20 and 12:35. When the crew taxied out at about 12:57 there was again some wet snow on all its horizontal surfaces.
Shortly after lift-off from runway 21 the aircraft rolled 45deg to the right, 45deg to the left and back to the right again until the wing struck the ground. The aircraft crashed and came to rest inverted.

PROBABLE CAUSE: "The captain's decision to take off with snow on the aircraft's wing and empennage surfaces which resulted in a loss of lateral control and a loss of lift as the aircraft ascended out of ground effect."

NTSB Safety Recommendations A-80-112/114
NTSB-AAR-79-12

photo (c) via Werner Fischdick; Jersey-States Airport, Channel Islands (JER); September 1973

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