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MIA89MA023

1988-11-02 · OAK GROVE, Pennsylvania, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport LBE

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

FAILURE OF THE PILOT IN COMMAND TO OBSERVE THE RAPID ACCRETION OF ICE ON THE AIRPLANE DUE TO HIS ATTENTION BEING DIVERTED.

Factual narrative

ACFT ENTERED AN AREA OF FCST MOD ICING. ICE DETECTION SYS HAD BEEN INTRMTLY INOP. THE ACFT ENTERED HOLDING IN ICING CONDWHILE CKG FLT INSP EQUIP. EVIDENCE INDICATED CREW NOTED ICE ACCRETION, ACTIVATED SURFACE DE-ICE SYS, ICE BROKE LOOSE ANDENTERED ENG INTAKES. BOTH ENGS FLAMED OUT. DRG EMERG DESCENT CREW INIT RE-STARTS, BUT NEITHER ENG WOULD SUSTAIN PWR. CREW RQSTD VECTORS TO MORE DISTANT AIRPORT. BOTH PLTS WERE SEEN DRINKING PREV NIGHT. C/P HAD RECENTLY LOST DRIVERS LICENSE FOR DUI. CAPT HAD DECIDED TO RETIRE THAT DAY. C/P HAD WORKED IN FLT OPS 3 DAYS IN 8 WKS AND HAD LMTD TRNG IN FLTINSPECTION. BOTH PLTS HAD PERSONAL STRESSES WHICH MAY HAVE INFLUENCED PERFORMANCE. CAPT'S CONTAMINATED THORACIC BLOOD REVEALED 0.057% ALCOHOL. PUTRIFICATION WOULD ACCT FOR PART OF ALCOHOL LEVEL. C/P HAD TRACE ALCOHOL IN URINE ONLY. BOTH ENGS SHOWED COMPRESSOR FOD CONSISTENT WITH ICE INGESTION. NO OTHER ACFT SYS OR ENG MALFUNCTION FOUND. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1988_MIA89MA023.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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Related research

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