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NYC90FA104 · Short Brothers SD3-60-200

11 May 1990 · Jamaica, NY, United States

Command Airways Short Brothers SD3-60-200 · Accident: propeller blast or jet exhaust/suction while taxiing

From John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Dutchess County Airport (POU)

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Event

NTSB case
NYC90FA104
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
Accident
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
General aviation
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

Short Brothers SD3-60-200

Aircraft type
Short Brothers SD3
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
N381MQ
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), Jamaica, NYTo Dutchess County Airport (POU), Poughkeepsie, NY
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 91: General Aviation
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
Taxi · to runway
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
Propeller blast or jet exhaust/suction
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Substantial

Cause areas

  • Copilot/second pilot › Lack of total experience in type of aircraft
  • Manufacturer › Flight manuals, inadequate
  • Pilot in command › Aircraft control, not possible
  • Pilot in command › Distance, inadequate
  • Pilot in command › Lack of total experience in type of aircraft

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

NTSB narrative

FLIGHT 335 A SD3-60 WAS CLEARED TO TAXI INTO POSITION AND HOLD BEHIND A DEPARTING B-747-400. AS FLIGHT 335 TAXIED FORWARD OF THE HOLD LINE. THE PILOT LOST CONTROL OF THE AIRPLANE AND WAS BLOWN INTO THE BLAST FENCE BY THE THRUST OF THE DEPARTING AIRPLANE. THE PIC HAD 44 HOURS IN TYPE WITH 10 HOURS AS PIC AND HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN AN ATR-42 F/O. THE SIC HAD 49 HOURS IN TYPE AND CAME FROM GENERAL AVIATION. SHORT BROTHERS, THE MANUFACUTURER WAS QUERIED AS TO THE EFFECT OF HIGH VELOCITY WIND ON THE AIRPLANE. THEY STATED A WIND OF APPROXIMATELY 70 KTS PERPENDICULAR TO THE FUSELAGE COULD UPSET THE AIRPLANE. THIS INFORMATION WAS NOT AVAILABLE TO THE PILOTS IN THE FLIGHT MANUAL OR THE OPERATOR. THE COMPANY HAD A CREW PARING POLICY PROHIBITING THE PAIRING OF TWO LOW TIME CREWMEMBERS TOGETHER. THIS WAS WAIVED BY THE VP FLIGHT FOR THE CREW ONLY POSITIONING FLIGHT.

Probable cause

PILOT FACTOR IN THAT THE PILOT TAXIED INTO A HOLD POSITION THAT WAS TOO CLOSE TO A DEPARTING B-747, WHICH RESULTED IN THE A/C BEING BLOWN INTO A BLAST FENCE. CONTRIBUTING WAS THE LACK OF AVAILABLE INFORMATION FROM THE AIRCRAFT MANUFACTURER WHICH WOULD HAVE GIVEN THE FLIGHT CREW ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FROM WHICH TO BASE THEIR DECISION ON THE PLACEMENT OF THE AIRPLANE BEHIND THE DEPARTING 747.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record NYC90FA104
Event ID
20001212X23254
Case number
NYC90FA104
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. 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: 76419e4b56286d0d989b86c7cbf0f6c5eb8c8a6c35dfabd732ad080b44e6684d; retrieved 2026-09-23T06:19:01.746Z.