United Express Flight 2415
Npa/United Express British Aerospace BAE-3101 · Loss of control following low-altitude stall
From Seattle–Tacoma International Airport (YKM) to Tri Cities Airport (PSC)
Event
- NTSB case
- DCA90MA011
- 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
- 6 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- Occupants
- 6
- 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
- Visual Meteorological Cond
British Aerospace BAE-3101
- Flight
- NPE415
- Aircraft type
- British Aerospace BAE-3101
- 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
- N410UE
- Operator
- Npa/United Express
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Seattle–Tacoma International Airport (YKM), Yakima, WATo Tri Cities Airport (PSC)
- 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
- 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
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Stall
- 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 › IFR procedure, improper
- Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, improper
- Pilot in command › Stall, inadvertent
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
United Express Flight 2415 was a regularly scheduled flight in the northwest United States from Seattle to Pasco, Washington, operated using a BAe Jetstream 31. Late on Tuesday, December 26, 1989, Flight 2415 crashed while attempting to land at Pasco's Tri-Cities Airport, killing both pilots and all four passengers aboard.
Accident
Flight 2415 departed Seattle at 20:45 PST, and arrived at Yakima with no reported mechanical difficulties. A company station agent at Yakima witnessed First Officer McInroe knocking ice off the wings of the aircraft, with the assistance of another company first officer. She asked Captain Roberts whether he wanted his aircraft deiced, but the captain declined. She also asked if the captain wanted Flight 2415's tail deiced, since the first officers deicing the wings would be unable to reach the tail surfaces. Roberts declined this as well. Flight 2415 was the only flight to depart Yakima that afternoon/evening that was not deiced prior to departure.
At 21:59, air traffic controllers at the Yakima tower announced that Yakima airport was closed due to weather conditions. However, at 22:00, Flight 2415 contacted Yakima ground controllers and were cleared to proceed to Yakima's runway 27 for departure. Ground controllers advised Flight 2415 of "light to moderate mixed icing" between 4000 and 18000 ft, which Flight 2415 acknowledged. At 22:01, Flight 2415 departed Yakima en route to Pasco, and climbed to a cruising altitude of 11000 ft.
At 22:26, Flight 2415 was cleared for an Instrument Landing System (ILS) approach to runway 21R at Pasco's Tri-Cities Airport. Conversations between Flight 2415 and controllers were normal in the minutes leading up to the crash, and no distress call was made.
At 22:30, while Flight 2415 was on final approach, the Pasco tower controller observed Flight 2415 flying "higher than normal" for a final approach, and also descending faster than normal. The controller watched Flight 2415 descend until it struck the ground 400 ft short of runway 21R. The controller alerted emergency response crews, who arrived at the crash site at 22:34; the aircraft was destroyed, and there were no survivors.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The accident was investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board. Investigators determined that the airplane was flying well above the glideslope for an ILS approach. From the plane's last recorded position, investigators determined that Flight 2415 would need to follow a 7-degree glidepath in order to descend rapidly enough to reach the runway threshold. This is more than twice the glidepath angle for an ILS approach and would have required a high descent rate of 2000 to 3000 ft per minute. Investigators also determined that ice had likely built up on the plane's wings during the flight, creating a higher risk of a stall at low speeds. According to radar data, Flight 2415 had slowed to 110 kn as it attempted to descend. The combination of an excessively steep descent, low speed, and aircraft icing likely resulted in loss of control of the aircraft.
On November 4, 1991, the NTSB issued its final report on the crash, which contained the following conclusions:
Text from the Wikipedia article “United Express Flight 2415” (revision 1339305122, 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
DURING ARRIVAL FOR AN ILS RWY 21R APCH, THE ACFT ENCTRD ICING CONDS FOR ABOUT 9-1/2 MIN. AS THE ACFT WAS VECTORED FOR THE APCH, THE SEATTLE ARTCC CTLR USED AN EXPANDED RADAR RANGE & DID NOT PROVIDE PRECISE PSNG OF THE ACFT TO THE FINAL APCH COURSE. THE FLT CREW ATMTD TO CONT ON A STEEP, UNSTABILIZED APCH FOR A LNDG. RECORDED RADAR DATA SHOWED THAT THE ACFT WAS WELL TO THE RGT OF THE ILS COURSE LINE & WELL ABOVE THE GLIDE SLOPE AS IT PASSED THE OUTER MARKER/FINAL APCH FIX (FAF). IT DID NOT INTERCEPT THE LOCALIZER COURSE UNTIL IT WAS ABT 1.5 MI INSIDE THE FAF. ALSO, IT WAS STILL WELL ABOVE THE ILS GLIDE SLOPE WERE RECORDED ALT DATA WAS LOST WHEN THE ACFT WAS ABT 2.5 MI FM THE ARPT. THE TWR HAD CLOSED, BUT THE CTLR SAW THE ACFT IN A HIGHER THAN NORMAL RATE OF DSCNT IN A WINGS LEVEL ATTITUDE. BFR RCHG THE RWY, THE ACFT NOSED OVER & CRASHED IN A STEEP DSCNT. THERE WAS EVIDENCE THAT ICE HAD ACCUMULATED ON THE AIRFRAME, INCLUDING THE HORIZONTAL STABILIZERS, WHICH MAY HAVE RESULTED IN A TAIL PLANE STALL. (SEE: NTSB/AAR-91/06)
Probable cause
THE FLIGHTCREW'S DECISION TO CONTINUE AN UNSTABILIZED INSTRUMENT LANDING SYSTEM (ILS) APPROACH THAT LED TO A STALL, MOST LIKELY OF THE HORIZONTAL STABILIZER, AND LOSS OF CONTROL AT LOW ALTITUDE. CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WAS THE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER'S IMPROPER VECTORS THAT POSITIONED THE AIRPLANE INSIDE THE OUTER MARKER WHILE IT WAS STILL WELL ABOVE THE GLIDESLOPE. CONTRIBUTING TO THE STALL AND LOSS OF CONTROL WAS THE ACCUMULATION OF AIRFRAME ICE THAT DEGRADED THE AERODYNAMIC PERFORMANCE OF THE AIRPLANE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
Wikipedia article: United Express Flight 2415
- Article
- United Express Flight 2415
- Revision
- 1339305122 · 2026-02-19 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q7887735
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record DCA90MA011
- Event ID
- 20001213X29944
- Case number
- DCA90MA011
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "United Express Flight 2415" (page 32355261, revision 1339305122); merged with NTSB case DCA90MA011 (events / aircraft)
- Date
- NTSB record DCA90MA011: NTSB API eventDate, eventTimeUtc and eventTimeUtcOffsetHours (local date)
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site; country from NTSB record DCA90MA011
- Map position
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- NTSB record DCA90MA011: 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 DCA90MA011: operated under Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- Fatalities
- NTSB record DCA90MA011: NTSB API totalFatal
- Ground fatalities
- NTSB record DCA90MA011: NTSB API ongroundFatal
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (3)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "United Express Flight 2415" and NTSB case DCA90MA011, 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 1989-12-27.