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CHI90IA106 · Nihon YS-11A-600F YS-11A-600

3 Apr 1990 · West Lafayette, IN, United States

Nihon YS-11A-600F YS-11A-600 · Incident: uncontrolled altitude deviation on approach

From Willow Run Airport (YIP) to an unrecorded destination

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Event

NTSB case
CHI90IA106
Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Incident
InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
Completed
API-reported fatalities
0 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
0
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
Airline
WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
Visual Meteorological Cond

Nihon YS-11A-600F YS-11A-600

Aircraft type
Nihon YS-11
Category
Airplane
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
N112MP
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Willow Run Airport (YIP), Detroit, MITo not recorded
Aircraft age
Not recorded
Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
Part 121: Air Carrier
Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
Approach · IFR final approach
First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
Uncontrolled altitude deviation
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
None

Cause areas

No findings designated as a cause are recorded in the NTSB data yet.

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

THE TRANSPORT CATEGORY AIRCRAFT WAS RETURNING TO THE HOME BASE EMPTY (BALLAST ONLY). WEATHER CONDITIONS EXISTED WHICH WERE CONDUCIVE TO AIRFRAME ICING. ON FINAL APPROACH, WHEN LANDING FLAPS WERE SELECTED, THE AIRCRAFT PITCHED NOSE DOWN ACCOMPANIED BY BUFFETING OF THE AIRFRAME. THE CAPTAIN TOOK CONTROL (FIRST OFFICER HAD BEEN FLYING) AND ADDED FULL POWER. THE FIRST OFFICER SELECTED 15 DEGREES FLAP. THE AIRCRAFT RECOVERED, BUT CONTINUED TO EXHIBIT BUFFETING. THE AIRCRAFT DIVERTED TO AN AIRPORT WITH A LONGER RUNWAY AND A SUCCESSFUL LANDING WAS ACCOMPLISHED. SUBSEQUENT INVESTIGATION REVEALED SUBSTANTIAL ICE ACCUMULATION OUTSIDE THE BOOTED AREA ON THE HORIZONTAL TAIL.

Probable cause

AN UNDETECTED ACCUMULATION OF ICE ON THE HORIZONTAL STABILIZER. RELATING FACTORS WERE THE MANUFACTURER'S LACK OF INFORMATION AND AIRCRAFT MANUALS RELATIVE TO THE UNDERSTANDING OF, AND APPROPRIATE PROCEDURES TO PREVENT THE LOSS OF CONTROL.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record CHI90IA106
Event ID
20001212X22877
Case number
CHI90IA106
Dataset
historical-pre2008
Source SHA-256
89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
  • Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
  • Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status, damage. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 957e46f68539e95107b8739a07ac35516e0068659eb623798db5759f5aeb9b93; retrieved 2026-09-18T19:03:30.631Z.