Long Beach - Grand Canyon

On January 5, 1997 at 12:43 PM, Long Beach - Grand Canyon experienced a crash involving Swearingen SA227 Metro III, operated by Skylink Charter, with the event recorded near Bullhead City Arizona.

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

21 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 21 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: 19, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. After executing a missed approach at the Grand Canyon Airport, the pilots diverted to the Bullhead City Airport. The pilots reported that minimal icing conditions were encountered with about 1/8 inch of ice accumulating on the aircraft wings. The pilots stated they cycled the deice boots to shed ice. They did not observe ice on the propeller spinners, and they did not activate the engines' 'override' ignition systems, as required by the airplane's flight manual. Use of 'override' ignition was required for flight into visible moisture at or below +5 degrees Celsius (+41 degrees Fahrenheit) to prevent ice ingestion/flameouts. Subsequently, both engines flamed out as the airplane was on about a 3 mile final approach for landing with the landing gear and flaps extended. The aircraft was destroyed during an off-airport landing.

Aircraft reference details include registration N165SW, MSN AC-514, year of manufacture 1982.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 35.1450°, -114.5628°.