 The wreckage on the crash site | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | May 30, 1979 |
| Summary | Controlled flight into terrain |
| Site | Near Knox County Regional Airport Rockland, Maine, United States 44°01′N 69°04′W / 44.02°N 69.06°W |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | DHC-6 Twin Otter Series 200 |
| Operator | Downeast Airlines |
| Registration | N68DE |
| Flight origin | Logan International Airport Boston, Massachusetts, United States |
| Destination | Knox County Regional Airport Rockland, Maine, United States |
| Passengers | 16 |
| Crew | 2 |
| Fatalities | 17 |
| Injuries | 1 |
| Survivors | 1 |
Downeast Airlines Flight 46 was a scheduled airline service in the United States from Boston's Logan International Airport to Rockland, Maine operated by Downeast Airlines. On May 30, 1979, the de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter operating the flight crashed during a nonprecision approach to Rockland's Knox County Regional Airport.[1] All but one of the 18 people on board were killed.[2] The cause of the accident was controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) after the failure of the flight crew to stop the aircraft's descent below the minimum descent altitude for the non-precision approach at Knox County airport.[1] The investigation into the accident looked into the airline's corporate culture as a contributing factor to the crash; this was the first time an investigation took this approach to an air crash.
The crash of Flight 46 is currently the deadliest to have occurred in the state of Maine.[3] At the time of the crash, the crew had descended the Twin Otter below the minimum descent altitude in order to see the runway in heavy fog.[4]
- ^ a b "Crash short, Downeast Airlines, Inc., DeHavilland [sic] DHC-6-200, N68DE, Rockland, Maine, May 30, 1979". www.fss.aero. Flight Simulation Systems, LLC. Retrieved January 24, 2015.
- ^ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 200 N68DE Rockland, ME". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Archived from the original on May 27, 2010. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
- ^ Griffin, Walter (May 29, 2009). "Crash: 30 years after Maine's worst air disaster". The Bangor Daily News. Retrieved January 24, 2015.
- ^ "Downeast Airlines Inc., deHavilland Canada DHC-6-200, N68DE, Rockland, Maine, May 30, 1979" (PDF). National Transportation Safety Board. May 12, 1980. NTSB/AAR-80-05. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 3, 2015. Retrieved January 26, 2015. - Copy at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Copy at fss.aero.