Trans-Colorado Airlines Flight 2286

1988 aviation accident

Trans-Colorado Airlines Flight 2286
Accident
A Fairchild Metro III similar to the aircraft involved
Date	January 19, 1988
Summary	Pilot error aggravated by cocaine use, leading to controlled flight into terrain
Site	Bayfield, Colorado, U.S. 37°13′N 107°41′W / 37.217°N 107.683°W / 37.217; -107.683
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Fairchild Metro III
Operator	Trans-Colorado Airlines d/b/a Continental Express
ICAO flight No.	TCE2286
Call sign	TRANS COLORADO 2286
Registration	N68TC
Flight origin	Denver-Stapleton International Airport Denver, Colorado, United States
Destination	Durango–La Plata County Airport Durango, Colorado, United States
Occupants	17
Passengers	15
Crew	2
Fatalities	9
Injuries	7
Survivors	8

Trans-Colorado Airlines Flight 2286 (operating as Continental Express Flight 2286) was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Denver, Colorado, United States, to Durango, Colorado, United States, operated for Continental Express by Trans-Colorado Airlines. On January 19, 1988, Flight 2286 crashed onto terrain near Bayfield, Colorado, while on approach to Durango-La Plata County Airport. Out of the 17 people on board, 9 were killed, including both crew members.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation determined the most probable cause of the accident was the crew's failure to follow the proper descent profile, and that recent cocaine use by the captain was a contributing factor.

Background

Aircraft

On the date of the accident, Trans-Colorado Airlines Flight 2286 was operated using a Fairchild Metro III twin-turboprop aircraft (registered as N68TC). Initially manufactured in 1981, this particular aircraft was acquired by Trans-Colorado in 1986. The Metro III had logged a total of approximately 12,000 flight hours at the time of the accident.

Crew

The flight was crewed by Captain Stephen S. Silver (36) and First Officer Ralph D. Harvey (42), who joined Trans-Colorado in 1986 and 1987, respectively. Silver had logged 4,184 hours of flight experience, including 3,028 hours on the Fairchild Metro. Harvey had 8,500 flight hours, with 3,458 of them on the Fairchild Metro.

Accident

Flight 2286 departed Denver's Stapleton International Airport at 18:20 Mountain Standard Time as a regularly scheduled flight to Durango–La Plata County Airport. A total of fifteen passengers and two pilots were on board.

At 18:53, Flight 2286 reported reaching its cruising altitude of 23,000 feet. Air traffic control advised Flight 2286 of reduced visibility into Durango, with a ceiling of only 800 feet and light snow and fog in the area. At 19:00, controllers asked Flight 2286 whether they wanted to make an Instrument Landing System (ILS) approach to Durango's Runway 2, or a non-precision approach to Durango's Runway 20. From Flight 2286's location, the ILS landing would have required backtracking to make the approach to Runway 2, adding ten minutes to the flight versus a more direct approach into Runway 20. Silver, who had a reputation as a pilot who could make up for lost time, chose the approach to Runway 20 because it would save time. He allowed Harvey to fly the approach into Durango.

At 19:03, Flight 2286 was cleared to begin descending from 23,000 feet. In order to make a direct approach into Durango, Harvey flew in at a rapid descent of 3,000 feet per minute, which was more than three times the rate intended for the approach. At 19:14, Flight 2286 received clearance to approach Runway 20, and reported reaching 14,000 feet. The aircraft continued to descend until it struck the ground, and then pitched up. The aircraft rolled several times before striking the ground again. Flight 2286 eventually slid to a stop approximately five miles from the airport.

A surviving passenger of Flight 2286 walked away from the crash site and went to a nearby house. At 20:34, the homeowner contacted Central Dispatch to inform them of the plane crash survivor. Central Dispatch sent a rescue vehicle to retrieve the survivor and it arrived at 20:45. Five other survivors, including a 23-month-old baby carried by another survivor, walked together about 1.5 miles over 1.5 hours to a highway. They saw and met a motorist who transported them about a mile until he met a responding rescue vehicle. The survivors were then transported to a local hospital. Of the seventeen people on board, seven passengers and both pilots were killed.

Investigation and probable cause

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) learned that Harvey had a history of alcohol abuse. However, he had completed a physical exam the day before the crash and was found at that time to be free of alcohol or illegal drugs. In addition, tests on Harvey's body were negative for alcohol or drugs. However, the NTSB was soon approached by another pilot who had encountered a woman claiming to be Silver's fiancée. The woman claimed to have "done a bag of cocaine" with Silver the night before the accident. The NTSB attempted to contact and interview the woman, but were unsuccessful. Tests on Silver's body found traces of cocaine and its metabolites in his blood and urine. The NTSB concluded that Silver had likely used cocaine twelve to eighteen hours before the accident, and that his piloting skills were likely degraded as a result of his drug use.

On February 4, 1989, the NTSB issued its final report on Flight 2286, in which it stated its finding of the probable cause of the crash:

The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the first officer's flying and the captain's ineffective monitoring of an unstabilized approach which resulted in a descent below the published descent profile. Contributing to the accident was the degradation of the captain's performance resulting from his use of cocaine before the accident.

The aircraft was not equipped with a cockpit voice recorder or flight data recorder, as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) did not require such small regional aircraft to be equipped with such recorders at the time. After the accident, the FAA mandated the installation of flight recorders in all aircraft operating scheduled flights.

In popular culture

The accident and subsequent investigation are the subject of a season 16 episode of the documentary television series Mayday, titled "Dangerous Approach", first broadcast in July 2016.

References

^ TRANS-COLORADO AIRLINES, INC., FLIGHT 2286, FAIRCHILD METRO III, SA227 AC, N68TC, BAYFIELD, COLORADO, JANUARY 19, 1988 (PDF). National Transportation Safety Board. February 4, 1989. NTSB/AAR-89/01. Retrieved September 6, 2016. - Copy at Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University.
"Cocaine link to commuter airline crash called 'tragic reminder". UPI. March 12, 1988. The two-engine turbo prop, owned by Trans Colorado Airlines and operating as Continental Express Flight 2286, crashed a few miles from Durango, Colo., as it neared the airport.
"COCAINE DETECTED IN BODY OF PILOT IN COMMUTER CRASH". The Washington Post. March 12, 1988. Retrieved September 2, 2016. Laboratory tests found cocaine in the urine of pilot Steven S. Silver, who died at the controls of Continental Express Flight 2286, a twin-engine turbo prop that crashed in snowy mountains a few miles from Durango, Colo., as it approached the LaPlata County Airport, according to a toxicology report released by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
"COPILOT OF CRASHED AIRCRAFT HAD HISTORY OF ALCOHOL ABUSE". The Washington Post. March 17, 1988. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
"Traces of Cocaine Found in Pilot of Plane That Crashed, Killing Nine". Los Angeles Times. March 12, 1988. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
"Mayday: Dangerous Approach". TV.com. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
"Dangerous Approach". Mayday. Season 16. 2016. Discovery Channel Canada / National Geographic.

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in 1988 (1988)
Jan 2 Condor Flugdienst Flight 3782Jan 18 Aeroflot Flight 699Jan 18 China Southwest Airlines Flight 4146Jan 19 Trans-Colorado Airlines Flight 2286Jan 24 Aeroflot Flight 29674Feb 3 American Airlines Flight 132Feb 8 Nürnberger Flugdienst Flight 108Feb 19 AVAir Flight 3378Feb 27 Talia Airways Boeing 727 crashMar 1 Comair Flight 206Mar 4 TAT Flight 230Mar 8 Aeroflot Flight 3739Mar 17 Avianca Flight 410Apr 5 Kuwait Airways Flight 422Apr 28 Aloha Airlines Flight 243May 6 Widerøe Flight 710May 24 TACA Flight 110Jun 12 Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 046Jun 23 British Army Lynx shootdownJun 26 Air France Flight 296QJul 3 Iran Air Flight 655Jul 13 BIH Sikorsky S-61N crashAug 17 Death of Muhammad Zia-ul-HaqAug 28 Ramstein air show disasterAug 31 CAAC Flight 301Aug 31 Delta Air Lines Flight 1141Sep 9 Vietnam Airlines Flight 831Sep 15 Ethiopian Airlines Flight 604Oct 17 Uganda Airlines Flight 775Oct 19 Indian Airlines Flight 113Nov 2 LOT Polish Airlines Flight 703Dec 8 Remscheid A-10 crashDec 11 Soviet Air Force Il-76 crashDec 21 Pan Am Flight 103
1987 ◄ ► 1989

Aviation accidents and incidents in 1988 (1988)

Jan 2 Condor Flugdienst Flight 3782Jan 18 Aeroflot Flight 699Jan 18 China Southwest Airlines Flight 4146Jan 19 Trans-Colorado Airlines Flight 2286Jan 24 Aeroflot Flight 29674Feb 3 American Airlines Flight 132Feb 8 Nürnberger Flugdienst Flight 108Feb 19 AVAir Flight 3378Feb 27 Talia Airways Boeing 727 crashMar 1 Comair Flight 206Mar 4 TAT Flight 230Mar 8 Aeroflot Flight 3739Mar 17 Avianca Flight 410Apr 5 Kuwait Airways Flight 422Apr 28 Aloha Airlines Flight 243May 6 Widerøe Flight 710May 24 TACA Flight 110Jun 12 Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 046Jun 23 British Army Lynx shootdownJun 26 Air France Flight 296QJul 3 Iran Air Flight 655Jul 13 BIH Sikorsky S-61N crashAug 17 Death of Muhammad Zia-ul-HaqAug 28 Ramstein air show disasterAug 31 CAAC Flight 301Aug 31 Delta Air Lines Flight 1141Sep 9 Vietnam Airlines Flight 831Sep 15 Ethiopian Airlines Flight 604Oct 17 Uganda Airlines Flight 775Oct 19 Indian Airlines Flight 113Nov 2 LOT Polish Airlines Flight 703Dec 8 Remscheid A-10 crashDec 11 Soviet Air Force Il-76 crashDec 21 Pan Am Flight 103

1987 ◄ ► 1989

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States and U.S. territories in the 1980s
1980	Air Wisconsin Flight 965 (June 1980)
1981	Eastern Air Lines Flight 935 (September 1981)
1982	Air Florida Flight 90 (January 13 1982) Thunderbirds Indian Springs Diamond Crash (January 18 1982) World Airways Flight 30 (January 23 1982) Pilgrim Airlines Flight 458 (February 1982) Pan Am Flight 759 (July 9 1982) Twilight Zone accident (July 23 1982) Pan Am Flight 830 (August 1982)
1983	United Airlines Flight 2885 (January 1983) Eastern Air Lines Flight 855 (May 1983) Air Canada Flight 797 (June 2 1983) Reeve Aleutian Airways Flight 8 (June 8 1983) Air Illinois Flight 710 (October 1983) Ozark Air Lines Flight 650 (December 20 1983) Anchorage runway collision (December 23 1983)
1984	Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 901 (February 1984) Vieques Air Link Flight 901A (August 2 1984)* San Luis Obispo mid-air collision (August 24 1984) Provincetown-Boston Airlines Flight 1039 (December 1984)
1985	Galaxy Airlines Flight 203 (January 1985) China Airlines Flight 006 (February 1985) Delta Air Lines Flight 191 (August 2 1985) Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808 (August 25 1985) Midwest Express Airlines Flight 105 (September 6 1985) Henson Airlines Flight 1517 (September 23 1985) Teterboro mid-air collision (November 1985) Death of Ricky Nelson (December 1985)
1986	Grand Canyon mid-air collision (June 1986) Aeroméxico Flight 498 (August 1986) Japan Air Lines Cargo Flight 1628 incident (November 1986)
1987	SkyWest Airlines Flight 1834 (January 1987) Northwest Airlink Flight 2268 (March 1987) American Eagle Flight 5452 (May 1987)* Northwest Airlines Flight 255 (August 1987) Indianapolis Ramada Inn A-7D Corsair II crash (October 1987) Continental Airlines Flight 1713 (November 1987) Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771 (December 1987)
1988	Trans-Colorado Airlines Flight 2286 (January 1988) American Airlines Flight 132 (February 3 1988) AVAir Flight 3378 (February 19 1988) Aloha Airlines Flight 243 (April 1988) TACA Flight 110 (May 1988) Delta Air Lines Flight 1141 (August 1988)
1989	United Airlines Flight 811 (February 1989) Evergreen International Airlines Flight 17 (March 1989) United Airlines Flight 232 (July 1989) USAir Flight 5050 (September 1989) KLM Flight 867 (December 15 1989) United Express Flight 2415 (December 26 1989)
This list is incomplete. An asterisk (*) denotes an incident that took place in a U.S. territory. 1970–1979 ◄ 1980–1989 ► 1990–1999

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