Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808
Beech 99 · Controlled flight into terrain
From Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) to Bangor International Airport (BGR)
Event
- NTSB case
- DCA85AA035
- 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
- 8 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- Occupants
- 8
- 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
Beech 99
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 99
- 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
- N300WP
- Operator
- Bar Harbor Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), Boston, MATo Bangor International Airport (BGR)
- 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 object
- 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
- Tree(s)
- 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 › Decision height, not identified
- Pilot in command › IFR procedure, improper
- Pilot in command › Missed approach, not performed
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808 was a scheduled flight from Logan International Airport to Bangor International Airport in the United States on August 25, 1985. On final approach to Auburn/Lewiston Municipal Airport, the Bar Harbor Airlines Beechcraft Model 99 crashed short of the runway, killing all six passengers and two crew on board. Among the passengers was Samantha Smith, a 13-year-old American schoolgirl who had become famous as a goodwill ambassador to the Soviet Union and had been cast on the television show Lime Street.
Flight history
Flight 1808 was scheduled to stop in Augusta and Waterville, Maine, on its route from Logan International Airport in Boston to Bangor International Airport in Bangor, Maine. The flight crew consisted of captain Roy W. Fraunhofer and first officer David C. Owen, who had flown the aircraft from Bangor to Boston and back earlier that afternoon in increasingly worsening weather. On the second trip, they were advised while on the ground in Augusta that because of air-traffic control delays in Boston, their return flight 1788 via Auburn/Lewiston, Maine, would be canceled. They would instead operate the later Flight 1808 with Auburn added as a flag stop to accommodate passengers from Flight 1788.
Flight 1808 boarded in Boston with six passengers: two for Auburn, three for Augusta and one for Waterville. A fourth passenger had checked in for Augusta but did not respond to boarding calls and missed the flight. At 21:17 EDT, the captain radioed for clearance to Auburn. The controller, unaware of the change in routing, advised that Flight 1808's filed destination was Augusta. The captain accepted the routing but advised that he would amend the flight plan to Auburn after passing Pease VOR near Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Flight 1808 departed the ramp at 21:26 and was cleared for takeoff from Runway 4L at 21:30.
At about 22:00, Flight 1808 radioed the station agent at Auburn/Lewiston Municipal Airport for the latest weather. The agent reported a 300 foot obscured, indefinite ceiling with visibility of 1 mi in light drizzle and winds of 020° (north-northeast) at 4 mph. The altimeter setting was supposed to be 30.24 inHg. Shortly after this call, a controller in Portland contacted Flight 1808 to advise that they were drifting east of the ILS approach course to Runway 4 at Auburn. He advised them to turn to heading 340 to intercept. The captain responded "OK." Almost a minute later, the controller advised Flight 1808 that they were passing the Lewie NDB beacon at the outer marker for the approach and asked if they were receiving the signal. The first officer responded "affirmative." The controller then cleared Flight 1808 to switch to the Auburn airport's frequency. This transmission was acknowledged by Flight 1808’s first officer and was the last transmission received from the crew. Portland controllers were notified less than 10 minutes later that the plane had crashed at 22:05.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
Accident investigators were hindered by the absence of information from either a cockpit voice recorder or flight data recorder, as the size of the Beechcraft 99 was below the FAA limit for mandatory recorders. There was also no record of which pilot was flying the aircraft. Both pilots had used the radio during the flight although the non-flying pilot typically handles communications. It took more than three months to transcribe the communications between the plane and ground control and provide the transcript to investigators.
Examination of radar data from Portland showed that after Flight 1808 turned to a heading of 340° to intercept the approach, it flew through the approach course and had to make a 60° right turn less than 1 NM from the outer marker to turn onto the approach course. Altitude data from the aircraft’s transponder showed that Flight 1808 did not begin its descent to intercept the precision approach until after passing Lewiston, when the plane was already above the glide slope for the approach. This may have caused the flight crew to rush both the descent and the approach and descend too steeply. The actual altimeter settings on both the captain's and the first officer's altimeters could not be determined because of fire and impact damage. The aircraft flew into trees 4007 ft from the end of Runway 4 and struck the ground 440 ft to the right of the extended runway center line. There were no survivors.
In its report, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) noted that the controller in Portland used "poor judgment" while assisting the flight. However, it concluded that the captain accepted the large course correction and that the crew continued flying an unstabilized approach instead of executing a missed approach. The crew also attempted to stabilize the approach while allowing the plane to fly below the glide slope of the approach. The altimeter settings may have been incorrect, which could explain why the crew descended below the published decision height for the approach. At night and in low visibility, the crew may have been unaware of their true position.
The NTSB recommended a review of controller procedures for outlying airports without ground radar to align with best practices. For example, the 60° turn less than 1 mi from the outer marker for the approach at Auburn was directed by the Portland controller even though that maneuver would have violated approach guidelines for radar-assisted arrivals at Portland International Jetport. The NTSB further recommended that aircraft for hire that were capable of carrying six or more passengers be equipped with flight recorders.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808” (revision 1359415416, 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
DRG ARR, APRX 12 MI SOUTH OF THE FINAL APCH FIX (FAF), FLT 1808 WAS CLRD FOR AN ILS RWY 4 APCH. APRX 3 MIN LATER, ATC CONTROLLER (CTLR) NOTED ACFT WAS TRACKING EAST OF THE LOCALIZER (LOC) COURSE. HE ASKED IF THE FLT WAS RCVG THE ILS LOC. CAPT REPLIED 'NOT YET WE HAVEN'T INTERCEPTED.' THE CTLR THEN STATED 'ROGER, TURN LEFT HDG 340, SHOW YOU SLIGHTLY RGT OFIT.' APRX 45 SEC LATER, AS THE ACFT WAS CROSSING THE LOC AT THE FAF WITH A LARGE INTERCEPT ANGLE, THE CAPT ACKNOWLEDGEDRCVG IT. THE ACFT CONTD PAST THE FAF AT A RELATIVELY FAST SPEED, BUT DSCNDG VERY SLOW. ALSO, IT CONTD LEFT OF THE LOC, THEN CROSSED BACK TO THE RGT & WENT ABV, THEN BLO THE GLIDE SLOPE. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE ACFT HIT TREES 4007' SHORT & 440' RGT OF THE RWY. NO PREIMPACT PART FAILURE/MALFUNCTION WAS FND. THERE WAS EVIDENCE THAT CREW COORDINATION WAS NOT CONSIS-TENTLY PRACTICED AMONG COMPANY CREWMEMBERS DRG ROUTINE OPNS.PREV INV REVEALED BEECH 99 ACFT HAD COCKPIT NOISE LVL OF UP TO 97 DB. FAA SURVEILLANCE WAS AFFECTED ADVERSELY BY LACK OF MANPWR. OVRALL EXP LVL OF COMPANY PLTS REDUCED BY TURNOVR.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
Wikipedia article: Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808
- Revision
- 1359415416 · 2026-06-15 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q4857928
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record DCA85AA035
- Event ID
- 20001214X37435
- Case number
- DCA85AA035
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808" (page 9681163, revision 1359415416); merged with NTSB case DCA85AA035 (events / aircraft)
- Date
- NTSB record DCA85AA035: NTSB API eventDate, eventTimeUtc and eventTimeUtcOffsetHours (local date)
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site; country from NTSB record DCA85AA035
- Map position
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- NTSB record DCA85AA035: 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 DCA85AA035: operated under Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- Fatalities
- NTSB record DCA85AA035: NTSB API totalFatal
- Ground fatalities
- NTSB record DCA85AA035: NTSB API ongroundFatal
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (3)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808" and NTSB case DCA85AA035, 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 1985-08-26.