On November 19, 1996, at 1701 central standard time, United Express flight 5925, a Beechcraft 1900C, N87GL, collided with a Beechcraft King Air A90, Nl 127D, at Quincy Municipal Airport, near Quincy, Illinois. Flight 5925 was completing its landing roll on runway 13, and the King Air was in its takeoff roll on runway 04. The collision occurred at the intersection of the two runways. All 10 passengers and two crewmembers aboard flight 5925 and the two occupants aboard the King Air were killed. Flight 5925 was a scheduled passenger flight operating under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 135. The flight was operated by Great Lakes Aviation, Ltd., doing business as United Express. The King Air was operating under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91.
We determined that the probable cause of this accident was the failure of the pilots in the King Air A90 to effectively monitor the common traffic advisory frequency or to properly scan for traffic, resulting in their commencing a takeoff roll when the Beech 1900C (United Express flight 5925) was landing on an intersecting runway.
Contributing to the cause of the accident was the Cherokee pilot's interrupted radio transmission, which led to the Beech 1900C pilots' misunderstanding of the transmission as an indication from the King Air that it would not take off until after flight 5925 had cleared the runway.
Contributing to the severity of the accident and the loss of life were the lack of adequate aircraft rescue and firefighting services and the failure of the air stair door on the Beech l 900C to be opened.
Safety issues discussed in the report include the importance of emphasizing careful scanning techniques during flight training, Beech 1900C certification standards and compliance with requirements on door jamming, the certification of small airports used by scheduled commuter airlines, and aircraft rescue and fire fighting protection on scheduled commuter aircraft having 10 seats or more.
As a result of the investigation, we issued recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration.
