AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT REPORT: AIR EAST, INC. BEECHCRAFT 99A, N125AE, JOHNSTOWN-CAMBRIA COUNTY AIRPORT, JOHNSTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA, JANUARY 6, 1974

About 1905 e.s.t. on January 6, 1974, Commonwealth Commuter Flight 317, an Air East, Inc., Beechcraft 99A, crashed while making an instrument approach to runway 33 at the Johnstown-Cambria County Airport, Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Of the 15 passengers and 2 crewmembers aboard, 11 passengers and the captain were killed in the crash. The four remaining passengers and the first officer were seriously injured. The aircraft was destroyed. While on an instrument landing system localizer approach, the aircraft struck approach lights about 300 feet from the runway threshold and then crashed into an embankment about 200 feet from the threshold. Shortly before and shortly after the accident, the reported weather conditions at the Johnstown Airport consisted in part of variable 200- to 400-foot ceilings and a prevailing visibility of 2 miles in very light snow and fog. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was a premature descent below a safe approach slope followed by a stall and loss of aircraft control.

• Corporate Authors:

  National Transportation Safety Board

  Office of Aviation Safety
  Washington, DC  United States  20594
• Publication Date: 1975-1-15

Media Info

• Pagination: 32 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Air transportation crashes; Approach; Aviation safety; Crash injury research; Crash investigation; Crash landing; Crashes; Embankments; Impacts; Instrument landing systems; Passenger aircraft; Research; Visibility
• Old TRIS Terms: Approach lights; Instrument landing
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Research; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00090470
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: NTSB-AAR-75-3
• Files: NTIS
• Created Date: May 29 1975 12:00AM