Regional Express Cessna 402B accident
Cessna 402B · Accident: partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during initial climb
From Spokane International Airport (GEG) to Lewiston Nez Perce County Airport (LWS)
Event
- NTSB case
- SEA86LA031
- 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
- Charter & commuter
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Cessna 402B
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 402
- 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
- N4624N
- Operator
- Regional Express
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Spokane International Airport (GEG), Spokane, WATo Lewiston Nez Perce County Airport (LWS), Lewiston, ID
- 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 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- 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
- Initial climb
- 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
- Partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical)
- 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
- Induction air control/system › Blocked(partial)
- Pilot in command › Powerplant controls, improper use of
- Weather condition › Icing conditions
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Spokane, WA, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE PLT REPORTED ENCOUNTERING ICING CONDITIONS DURING HIS APCH TO SPOKANE. UPON ARRIVAL, THE ACFT REMAINED AT SPOKANE FOR 30-40 MINUTES DURING WHICH FREEZING DRIZZLE AND BELOW FREEZING TEMPS EXISTED PRIOR TO AND DURING THE DEPARTURE. THE PLT DID NOT UTILIZE THE MANUALLY OPERATED ALTERNATE AIR SYSTEM ABOARD THE ACFT AND AS A RESULT, COLD, MOIST AIR WAS ENTRAINED INTO THE SUBFREEZING FILTER CHAMBERS. THE GRADUAL BLOCKAGE OF AIR FROM ICE IN THE FILTERS RESULTED IN A LOSS OF PWR ON BOTH ENGS. WITH SUFFICIENT PWR AVAILABLE THE PLT CHOSE TO EXECUTE AN INTENTIONAL FORCED LANDING. THE ACFT STRUCK AN ARPT PERIMETER FENCE DURING THE LANDING AND GROUND SLIDE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA86LA031
- Event ID
- 20001214X38497
- Case number
- SEA86LA031
- 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: 219a6fcfeda31f10a4f48c3590b5dd75e1cd9675052871319bc7c8d83a87a195; retrieved 2026-09-18T20:11:14.664Z.