Continental Express flight 2310

Continental Express flight 2310 was an Beechcraft 1900 flight from Cleveland to Morgantown WV operated by ExpressJet Airlines, on the night

## Accident

### Summary

Collision with trees and crash due to Pilot Error, Maintenance Error

## Aircraft

### Survivors

2

of June 23 1997, Flight 2310 crashed into trees 2 miles south of Morgantown Municipal, the pilots would attempt to go around, but the aircraft would flip inverted. Crashing on the runway inverted, killing 13/15 people on board.

The NTSB determined that Pilot Error and Maintenance Error  caused the accident.

## Aircraft

The flight was operated by a Beechcraft 1900 registered N87550, It was first delivered to Continental Express in March 1996, it had operated continuously ever since. It was operated by ExpressJet.

## Occupants

### Crew Members

Flight 2310 had 2 pilots and 1 flight attendants.

The captain was 25 year old Thomson Briggs, He was hired by ExpressJet in December 1992, by the time of the accident he had 2,489 total flight hours, 792 of which were in the Beechcraft 1900, He was a proficient pilot.

The first officer was 21 year old Daniel Tomahawks, He was hired by ExpressJet just 5 months prior to the accident. By the time of the accident he had only 289 total flight hours, all of which were in the Beechcraft 1900. His performance was not listed in the final report.

### Passengers

 Philippines

The 11 passengers on board the flight were mostly Americans, 5 were from Morgantown, 4 were from Cleveland, and 1 was from Reno. 1 passenger was Filipino, she survived the crash, albeit died in the hospital 5 months after the accident.

## Accident

At 12:07 am, Flight 2310 Took off from Cleveland Airport. At 2:29 am, Flight 2310 contacts Morgantown Tower. They ask to land at Runway 36, The tower gives permission for Flight 2310 at Runway 36.

At 2:35 am, The captain notices that the plane is way too low. And asks the first officer to pull up the aircraft, while he monitors the instruments. The first officer pulls the aircraft up,

At 2:38 am, The captain realizes that they are way too low again, however before  he could take action. The plane impacted the trees. They would stay in the trees for 5 seconds. By the time the aircraft could emerge out of the aircraft was severely damaged, with  engine 1 having failed. And numerous elevators being missing, This caused the aircraft to slowly bank to the left, eventually causing it to fly inverted. At 2:39 am, Flight 2310 would crash on runway 36.

## Post Crash

Most of the occupants in the plane did not survive the crash, only 3 people. (The Filipino, a 11 year old, and an 45 year old) survived the crash. However the Filipino died in the hospital.

Flight 2310 stopped NorthWest of Morgantown Airport. It crashed into a field near a pizza shop. Multiple eye witnesses near the pizza shop reported that the first officer initially survived the crash. But died before emergency services could arrive, this however is unconfirmed.

Emergency services were on the scene by 2:41 am, the survivors were taken to JW Ruby Memorial Hospital.

## Investigation

The accident was investigated by the NTSB & Beech.

It was found that the pilots were distracted by a problem with the landing lights, soon after the aircraft was permitted to land at Runway 36, The pilots noticed that the landing lights had failed. Despite the problem, the pilots did not decide to go around. The investigation concluded that the lack of light led the pilots to believe they were higher than they actually were.

When the pilots first noticed they were way too low, they did not pull the aircraft up enough. Again due to the lack of light.

The captain was found to be severely fatigued when calculating his shifts prior to the accident. Causing the Captain to forget to monitor the instruments.

The first officer assumed the captain was already monitoring the instruments, so he did not monitor the instruments like he was supposed to.

When the aircraft first impacted the trees, the captain improperly responded, initially descending the aircraft.

The investigation concluded that had the captain responded properly, the aircraft could’ve made an emergency landing at Morgantown without fatalities.

The investigation also determined that the aircraft could’ve remained level in the state after the first impact, the captain in his fatigued state. Most likely became unconscious after the impact, the confused first officer who survived the impact with the trees. Did not do anything in his stressed state.

The investigation could not determine why the landing lights failed.

## Legacy

The crash caused the enactment of numerous changes in US Aviation, Most notably, pilots are now required to go around if a major problem is noticed on approach. Prior to the accident, it depended on the pilots.

Every June 23rd in Morgantown, a holiday is held to mourn the accident.