Newark - Washington DC

On December 18, 1987 at 07:36 PM, Newark - Washington DC experienced a crash involving Swearingen SA226 Metro II, operated by AVAir - Air Virginia, with the event recorded near Washington-Dulles Virginia.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

8 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 8 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

Crew on board: 2, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 6, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The aircraft had descended through a cloud layer enroute for the scheduled landing at IAD and according to the crew had picked up some trace rime ice on its wing surfaces. Although pitot and sas (stall avoidance system) heat were used the captain elected not to use engine inlet anti-ice. Just inside the outer marker the left engine lost power followed shortly by the right engine. The captain was able to set the aircraft down in an open field where the gear collapsed during the landing roll. The engines were successfully run-up at the Garrett facility. The flight manual contains a warning and a note stating that engine heat and continuous ignition must be used after leaving icing conditions until the pilot is confident that any significant residual ice will not be ingested into the engines. Ice was found lying beneath the right wing which matched the curvature of the leading edge of the wing. A round conical shaped piece of ice was found along the wreckage path which matched the nose of the propeller spinner.

Aircraft reference details include registration N23AZ, MSN TC-260, year of manufacture 1978.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 38.9523°, -77.4535°.