Accident · 1997-01-10

What the record says

Event date

1997-01-10

Event type

Accident

Highest injury level

Minor injury

Aircraft

Beech 1900D (N139ZV)

Operating rule

Part 135

Operator

MESA AIRLINES, INC. Operator named in NTSB report

Operated by (per NTSB report)

MESA AIRLINES INC.

Probable cause

The inadequate flight and winter operations training provided by the operator, and the pilot's improper decision to abort the takeoff while airborne above V1, due to a false stall warning horn. Also casual was the airport operations improper decision to discontinue plowing, and their failure to remove a snow pile on the runway. Factors relating to the accident were an easterly crosswind, the narrow icy runway conditions, inadequate FAA oversight in allowing the operator to continue operations with an inadequate training program that continued over several years, and the manufacturer's checklist which delayed the activation of the stall vane heat until just prior to takeoff.

Flight crew

Flight-crew details for this event aren't in the NTSB database extract we hold (its coverage starts with 2008 events) — a gap in our data, not an absence of crew.