Description

On 12 April 2007, a Bombardier CRJ-600 being operated by Pinnacle Airlines on a scheduled night passenger flight from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Traverse City overran the end of the slippery landing runway by 90 metres in normal visibility. There were no injuries to any of the 52 occupants but the aircraft sustained substantial, but repairable, damage, primarily at the forward lower fuselage.

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the National Transportation Safety Board (USA) (NTSB). It was established that the PF for the accident flight had been the aircraft commander, who had been acting as a Line Training Captain in respect of the required initial operating experience (OE) of the inexperienced First Officer. The Captain told the Investigation that he had initially tried to find another check airman to conduct the First Officer’s OE because the accident pilots were personal friends. However, no other check airman was available and he had attempted to perform the OE with the same strictness he would have done for any other candidate.