On August 13, 2004, about 0049 eastern daylight time, Air Tahoma, Inc., flight 185, a Convair 580, N586P, crashed about 1 mile south of Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG), Covington, Kentucky, while on approach to runway 36R. The first officer was killed, and the captain received minor injuries. The airplane was destroyed by impact forces.
The flight was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 as a cargo flight for DHL Express from Memphis International Airport, Memphis, Tennessee, to CVG. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight, which operated on an instrument flight rules flight plan.
The safety issues include flight crew performance, fuel crossfeed operations, operating with different fuel boost pump output pressure settings, and cockpit voice recorder power source reliability. Safety recommendations concerning these issues are addressed to the Federal Aviation Administration. A safety recommendation concerning operating with different fuel boost pump output pressure settings is addressed to Transport Canada.
We determined that the probable cause of this accident was fuel starvation resulting from the captain’s decision not to follow approved fuel crossfeed procedures. Contributing to the accident were the captain’s inadequate preflight planning, his subsequent distraction during the flight, and his late initiation of the in-range checklist. Further contributing to the accident was the flight crew’s failure to monitor the fuel gauges and to recognize that the airplane’s changing handling characteristics were caused by a fuel imbalance.
As a result of this investigation, we made a new recommendation to the FAA and a recommendation to Transport Canada. In addition, we reiterated a safety recommendation that were previously issued to the FAA.
