DCA87MA026

Factual narrative

DRG ARR, BUFFALO AIRWAYS FLT 721 WAS VECTORED FOR AN ILS RWY 1 APCH. EXCEPT FOR DEVIATIONS TO AVOID TSTMS, DSCNT TO THE TERMINAL AREA WAS ROUTINE. AT 2151:01, THE FLT WAS ADZD IT WAS 5 MI FM THE OUTER MARKER (OM), WAS GIVEN A FINAL VECTOR TO INTERCEPT THE ILS LOCALIZER (LOC) AT 2400' & WAS CLRD FOR THE APCH. AT 2153:07, THE FLT RPRTD OVR THE OM 'INBOUND.' AT THAT TIME, THE LCL CTLR (LC) WARNED THE FLT TO 'CHECK ALT IMMEDIATELY,' & THAT IT WAS SUPPOSE TO BE AT 2400'. SHORTLYTHEREAFTER, AN MSAW (MIN SAFE ALT WARNING) ALERT WAS ACTIVATED. THE LC WARNED FLT 721 THAT HE HAD RCVD AN MSAW ALERT & ADZD IT TO CLB TO 2400'. FLT 721 DID NOT RESPOND BY RADIO TO EITHER SAFETY ADZY. THE ACFT CRASHED APRX 3 MI SHORT OF RWY 1. THE OM ALT WAS 2400'; DECISION HGT (DH) FOR APCH WAS 1211'. FDR & RADAR DATA SHOWED THE ACFT PASSED THE OM AT 1700'. THE CVR REVEALED THE FO GAVE ALT INFO IN 100' INCREMENTS DWN TO THE DH, BUT DID NOT ADZ THE CAPT OF THE ALT ERRORAT THE OM OR RPRT THE RWY NOT IN SIGHT AT THE DH. THE GND PROXIMITY WARNING SYS (GPWS) DID NOT WARN THE CREW. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12