Flight crew's unprofessional behavior caused PSA Airlines CRJ-200 runway overrun at Charleston, WV

by B. N. Sullivan

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has issued its final report on the PSA Airlines CRJ-200 runway overrun at Charleston, WV, in January of this year.  The aircraft (registration N246PS) overran a runway at Yeager Airport (CRW), Charleston, WV, following a rejected takeoff.  The NTSB report attributes the incident to the flight crew's "unprofessional behavior."

The incident flight, operating as US Airways Express Flight 2495, was departing Charleston for Charlotte Douglas International Airport, NC.  After noticing that the flaps were incorrectly configured for takeoff, the crew rejected takeoff at high speed -- well above V1.  The aircraft overran the end of the runway and came to a stop in the engineered materials arresting system (EMAS) in the runway end safety area.

There were no injuries among the three crew members and 31 passengers on board.  The aircraft's flaps, landing gear, and landing gear doors "received minor damage," according to the NTSB.

The NTSB's statement of probable cause is as follows:

(1) The flight crewmembers’ unprofessional behavior, including their nonadherence to sterile cockpit procedures by engaging in nonpertinent conversation, which distracted them from their primary flight-related duties and led to their failure to correctly set and verify the flaps;

(2) the captain’s decision to reconfigure the flaps during the takeoff roll instead of rejecting the takeoff when he first identified the misconfiguration, which resulted in the rejected takeoff beginning when the airplane was about 13 knots above the takeoff decision speed and the subsequent runway overrun; and

(3) the flight crewmembers’ lack of checklist discipline, which contributed to their failure to detect the incorrect flap setting before initiating the takeoff roll.

Contributing to the survivability of this incident was the presence of an engineered materials arresting system beyond the runway end.

Here are the links to the NTSB's final report:

• NTSB ID DCA10IA022: Summary
• NTSB ID DCA10IA022: Full Narrative

RELATED: PSA Airlines CRJ-200 runway overrun at Charleston, WV - AircrewBuzz.com, Jan 19, 2010

[Photo Source]

PSA Airlines CRJ-200 runway overrun at Charleston, WV

by B. N. Sullivan

Late this afternoon, a PSA Airlines CRJ-200 aircraft overran a runway at Yeager Airport (CRW), Charleston, WV, following a rejected takeoff. The aircraft, operating as US Airways Express Flight JIA 2495, was departing on a scheduled passenger flight to Charlotte, NC, at the time of the incident. It came to a stop about 130 feet into the EMAS (Engineered Material Arresting System) area beyond the end of Runway 23 at CRW. No injuries have been reported among the three crew members and 30 passengers on board.

The incident occurred on January 19, 2010 at approximately 16:20 local time in Charleston. The reason for the rejected takeoff has not been reported.

WSAZ.com, reporting on a press conference held at Yeager Airport, quoted an official who said that there were "skid marks on the runway approximately 2,000 feet long." The good news is that the EMAS, which is 425 feet in length, obviously worked as intended. The aircraft reportedly stopped "about 125 feet from the edge of the mountain." The EMAS was installed at Yeager Airport in November of 2008.

By the way, @YeagerAirport did an exemplary job of live-tweeting information about the incident and its effects on the airport's operations in real time on Twitter. The photo above also was tweeted to the Yeager Airport Twitpic page.

[Photo Source]