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Aero Taxi Beech H18 accident

25 Nov 1983 · Allentown, PA, United States

Beech H18 · Accident: in flight encounter with weather en route

From Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport (AVP)

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Event

NTSB case
NYC84FA037
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
2 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
1
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

Beech H18

Aircraft type
Beechcraft 18
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
N105PE
Operator
Aero Taxi
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), Philadelphia, PATo Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport (AVP), WILKES BARRE, PA
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
En route · cruise
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
In flight encounter with weather
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Destroyed

Cause areas

  • Pilot in command › Airspeed(vmc), not maintained

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

NTSB narrative

WHILE EN ROUTE, THE PLT ENCOUNTERED ICING CONDITIONS, THEN REPORTED HE WAS UNABLE TO MAINTAIN ALT & WAS HAVING ENG PROBLEMS. HE DIVERTED TOWARD ALLENTOWN, PA, THEN ADVISED HE HAD LOST POWER IN THE LEFT ENG. APCH CONTROL BEGAN ISSUING VECTORS FOR A VOR APCH; HOWEVER, THE PLT ADVISED HE WAS UNABLE TO OPEN HIS APCH PLATES & REQUESTED A SURVEILLANCE RADAR APCH. RADAR VECTORS & ADVISORIES WERE PROVIDED UNTIL THE PLT REPORTED HE HAD THE ARPT IN SIGHT. SEVERAL WITNESSES OBSERVED THAT THE LEFT PROP WAS FEATHERED AS THE ACFT APCHD THE ARPT. THE PLT MANEUVERED THE ACFT TO A LEFT DOWNWIND FOR RWY 24 AT ABOUT 400 FT AGL WITH THE LANDING GEAR EXTENDED. WITNESSES REPORTED THE ACFT'S NOSE PITCH UP, THEN DOWN, THEN THE ACFT ROLLED TO THE LEFT & CRASHED. IN A TRAILER COURT IT HIT A MOBILE HOME & A PROPANE TANK & BURNED. A PERSON IN THE MOBILE HOME WAS FATALLY INJURED. AN EXAM OF THE WRECKAGE REVEALED THE LEFT PROP BLADES WERE AT THE LOW PITCH STOPS. NO PREIMPACT FAILURES WERE FOUND.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record NYC84FA037
Event ID
20001214X45176
Case number
NYC84FA037
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: 070769f2658a14fb391ea7a4384e6e959f3bdf9ddab0c9a08b3ea26ad0898522; retrieved 2026-09-18T14:29:37.668Z.