ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 3940
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| Date: | Thursday 1 March 1979 |
| Time: | 15:04 |
| Type: | Beechcraft 70 Queen Air |
| Owner/operator: | Universal Airways |
| Registration: | N777AE |
| MSN: | LB-34 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 8 / Occupants: 8 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | near Gulfport, MS -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Approach |
| Nature: | Passenger - Scheduled |
| Departure airport: | Gulfport-Biloxi Regional Airport, MS |
| New Orleans, LA | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
Universal Airways Flight 76, a Beech 70 Excalibur conversion, crashed on takeoff from runway 17 at the Gulfport-Biloxi Regional Airport, Mississippi. Flight 76, a regularly scheduled commuter flight to New Orleans, Louisiana, had a pilot and seven passengers on board. After liftoff, the aircraft climbed slowly to about 100 ft. The pilot transmitted to the tower that he was returning to land on runway 13. When a right turn was begun, the nose pitched up, the right bank increased, and the aircraft entered a steep dive to the ground. All persons on board were killed, and the aircraft was destroyed.
The investigation revealed that the nose baggage door opened at liftoff and was struck by the left propeller. A starter interrupt safety feature, designed to prevent the left engine from starting if the nose baggage door was unsecured, had been deactivated.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the failure of the pilot to take proper actions to cope with an emergency after the opening of an unsecured nose baggage door during the critical phase of takeoff.
Contributing to the cause of the accident were: (1) The failure of the company maintenance personnel to detect the starter interrupt system bypass wire; (2) a deficient weight and balance program; (3) inadequate corrective measures by the Federal Aviation Administration and the Beech Aircraft Corporation to a known safety problem relating to the nose baggage door; (4) inadequate preflight
procedures by the pilot; and (5) inadequate training requirements for Part 135 pilots in maximum gross weight operations in light, twin reciprocating engine aircraft.
Accident investigation:
|
Sources:
NTSB
AL 149
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 25-Feb-2008 12:00 | ASN archive | Added |
| 06-Feb-2015 21:59 | wf | Updated [Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport] |
| 12-Feb-2015 14:39 | wf | Updated [Operator, Location, Source, Narrative] |
| 15-Feb-2020 20:48 | harro | Updated [Operator, Phase, Narrative, Accident report, ] |
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