About 0102:30 Pacific standard time on January 21, 1985, Galaxy Airlines Flight 203, a Lockheed Electra charter flight en route to Minneapolis, Minnesota, departed runway 16R of the Reno-Cannon International Airport. Approximately one minute later, the crew requested a turn to a left downwind to return to the airport because of a vibration in the airplane. The tower controller cleared the flight to make a left turn to a downwind traffic pattern. The airplane crashed at 0104 into an area 1 1/2 miles from the departure end of runway 16R. The impact and subsequent fire killed the crew of six and 64 of the 65 passengers onboard. The airplane was destroyed. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the accident was the captain's failure to control and the copilot's failure to monitor the flight path and airspeed of the aircraft. This breakdown in crew coordination followed the onset of unexpected vibration shortly after takeoff. Contributing to the accident was the failure of ground handlers to properly close an air start access door, which led to the vibration.


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    Title :

    Aircraft Accident Report - Galaxy Airlines, Inc., Lockheed Electra-L-188C, N5532, Reno, Nevada, January 21, 1985


    Publication date :

    1986


    Size :

    96 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English





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