Northwest Airlink Flight 5719
Express Airlines II Jetstream BA-3100 · Controlled flight into terrain due to pilot error, and lack of crew coordination and altitude awareness
From Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport / Wold–Chamberlain Field (MSP) to Falls International Airport (INL)
Event
- NTSB case
- DCA94MA022
- 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
- Event fatalities
- 18 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- Occupants
- 18
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 0 serious · 0 minor (NTSB)
- 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
Jetstream BA-3100
- Aircraft type
- Jetstream BA-3100
- 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
- N334PX
- Operator
- Express Airlines II
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport / Wold–Chamberlain Field (MSP), Minneapolis, MNTo Falls International Airport (INL)
- 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
- 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
- In flight collision with terrain/water
- 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
- Copilot/second pilot › Crew/group coordination, not maintained
- Copilot/second pilot › Proper altitude, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Aircraft handling, poor
- Pilot in command › Crew/group coordination, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Proper altitude, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Proper descent rate, not attained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
From the Wikipedia article
Northwest Airlink Flight 5719 was a flight from Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport to International Falls Airport in International Falls, Minnesota with a scheduled intermediate stop at Chisholm-Hibbing Airport in Hibbing, Minnesota. On December 1, 1993, the Jetstream 31, operated by Express Airlines II as Northwest Airlink, collided with a group of trees in a forest during final approach to Hibbing, and crashed into two ridges northwest of the airport, killing all sixteen passengers and the two pilots on board.
Flight
Flight 5719 took off over 40 minutes late from Minneapolis-St. Paul. This was due to a late arrival and the replacement of landing light bulbs in Minneapolis-St. Paul. The aircraft was further delayed when it was deemed overweight for departure, requiring the removal of one passenger from the aircraft.
Accident
Until moments before the crash, Flight 5719 was uneventful and no emergency was declared. The plane was cleared for a landing on runway 31 at Hibbing, but the flight crew requested an approach to runway 13 instead, because there was a tailwind on the approach to runway 31, which was also covered with precipitation. The flight crew initiated the approach procedure by joining the Hibbing distance measuring equipment (DME) arc from the Hibbing VHF omnidirectional range (VOR) radio navigation system, and intercepting the instrument landing system localizer at 8000 ft MSL. That delayed the start of the plane's descent, which meant that an excessive rate of descent was required. The aircraft descended at 2000 ft /min and was 1200 ft above the minimum altitude when above the Kinney final approach fix. The Jetstream 31 was not equipped with a ground proximity warning system that had already been made mandatory for larger aircraft.
The aircraft continued its descent through the 2040 ft step-down altitude. It struck the top of a tree, continued for 634 ft, and struck a group of aspen trees. Finally, the plane collided with two ridges and came to rest inverted and lying on its right side.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
At first, icing was considered as a possible cause of the crash. This was later ruled out as a factor by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The cause of the crash was the loss of altitude awareness; this led to a failure to maintain minimum descent altitude for the approach, resulting in an impact with trees and a ridge before the aircraft reached the runway.
Falitz was said to have a reputation for following company procedures and being meticulous with flight check lists, but three first officers accused him of being deliberately rough on the flight controls. A chief pilot described Falitz as competent, but prone to outbursts of anger – even taking out his anger on an operational plane doing dangerous maneuvers in-flight – and intimidating and provocative behavior with colleagues. Falitz was accused of once slapping a co-pilot's headphones in anger. His previous intimidation of first officers was noted by the investigators.
The concluding statement from the NTSB report (NTSB/AAR-94/05) provided the following probable cause for the crash of Northwest Airlink Flight 5719: "The captain's actions led to a breakdown in crew coordination and the loss of altitude awareness by the flight crew during an unstabilized approach in night instrument meteorological conditions. Contributing to the accident were: the failure of the company management to adequately address the previously identified deficiencies in airmanship and crew resource management of the captain; the failure of the company to identify and correct a widespread, unapproved practice during instrument approach procedures; and the Federal Aviation Administration's inadequate surveillance and oversight of the air carrier."
Text from the Wikipedia article “Northwest Airlink Flight 5719” (revision 1339305100, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
NTSB narrative
WHILE ON A LOCALIZER BACK COURSE APPROACH THE AIRPLANE COLLIDED WITH TREES AND THE TERRAIN APRX 3 MI FROM THE RUNWAY THRESHOLD. THE CAPTAIN DELAYED THE START OF THE DESCENT THAT SUBSEQUENTLY REQUIRED AN EXCESSIVE DESCENT RATE TO REACH THE FAF AND MDH. THE CAPTAIN'S ACTIONS LED TO DISTRACTIONS DURING CRITICAL PHASES OF THE APPROACH. THE FLIGHTCREW LOST ALTITUDE AWARENESS AND ALLOWED THE AIRPLANE TO DESCEND BELOW MANDATORY LEVEL OFF POINTS. THE CAPTAIN'S RECORD RAISED QUESTIONS ABOUT HIS AIRMANSHIP AND BEHAVIOR THAT SUGGESTED A LACK OF CREW COORDINATION DURING FLIGHT OPERATIONS, INCLUDING INTIMIDATION OF FIRST OFFICERS. COMPANY MANAGEMENT DID NOT ADDRESS THESE MATTERS ADEQUATELY. THE AIRLINE'S FLIGHT OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT FAILED TO IMPLEMENT PROVISIONS TO ADEQUATELY OVERSEE THE TRAINING OF THEIR FLIGHTCREWS AND THE OPERATION OF THEIR AIRCRAFT. FAA GUIDANCE TO THEIR INSPECTORS CONCERNING IMPLEMENTATION OF OPS BULLETINS IS INADEQUATE AND HAS FAILED TO TRANSMIT VALUABLE SAFETY INFORMATION AS INTENDED TO AIRLINES.
Probable cause
THE CAPTAIN'S ACTIONS THAT LED TO A BREAKDOWN IN CREW COORDINATION AND THE LOSS OF ALTITUDE AWARENESS BY THE FLIGHTCREW DURING AN UNSTABILIZED APPROACH IN NIGHT INSTRUMENT METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS. CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: THE FAILURE OF THE COMPANY MANAGEMENT TO ADEQUATELY ADDRESS THE PREVIOUSLY IDENTIFIED DEFICIENCIES IN AIRMANSHIP AND CREW RESOURCE MANAGEMENT OF THE CAPTAIN; THE FAILURE OF THE COMPANY TO IDENTIFY AND CORRECT A WIDESPREAD, UNAPPROVED PRACTICE DURING INSTRUMENT APPROACH PROCEDURES; AND THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION'S INADEQUATE SURVEILLANCE AND OVERSIGHT OF THE AIR CARRIER. (NTSB REPORT AAR-94/05)
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
Wikipedia article: Northwest Airlink Flight 5719
- Revision
- 1339305100 · 2026-02-19 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q7059929
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record DCA94MA022
- Event ID
- 20001211X13847
- Case number
- DCA94MA022
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Northwest Airlink Flight 5719" (page 32298418, revision 1339305100); merged with NTSB case DCA94MA022 (events / aircraft)
- Date
- NTSB record DCA94MA022: NTSB API eventDate, eventTimeUtc and eventTimeUtcOffsetHours (local date)
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site; country from NTSB record DCA94MA022
- Map position
- NTSB record DCA94MA022: events decimal coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- NTSB record DCA94MA022: aircraft; gaps from Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- NTSB record DCA94MA022: operated under Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- Fatalities
- NTSB record DCA94MA022: NTSB API totalFatal
- Ground fatalities
- NTSB record DCA94MA022: NTSB API ongroundFatal
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (3)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "Northwest Airlink Flight 5719" and NTSB case DCA94MA022, matched by the same aircraft registration and date. For this US event the NTSB's values are used where the two differ; each value names its source.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1993-12-02.