B-1900D Went Down 100 Yards Offshore

Witnesses all reported about the same thing: a steep descent into the water, and a huge plume of spray -- maybe 40 feet tall -- as the doomed ferry flight came to its end, in fifteen feet of water off the shore of Great Island in Yarmouth (MA).

The pilots, Capt. Scott Knabe, 39, of Cincinnati (OH), and First Officer Steven Dean, 38, of Euless (TX), were killed in the crash, at about 3:40PM on Tuesday. They were the only ones aboard.

Their bodies were recovered quickly. It was daylight, and a horde of fishing and pleasure boats went immediately to the crash scene, to see if they could help.

The Colgan Air flight's black box was recovered. Its examination may confirm reports from other pilots in the air that the Beech pilots radioed, shortly after takeoff from Barnstable Municipal Airport, that they had a "runaway trim" problem in the elevator.

Not all reports are to be as readily believed. One report noted that, after the crash, "The pungent odor of gasoline filled the air." We understand the flight wasn't transporting any gasoline; and its engines are turboprops, so it's a safe bet that there wasn't any gasoline in the fuel tanks, either.

The flight's planned destination had been Albany (NY), where it was to have started flying passengers again.

Colgan president Mike Colgan said in a statement, "We at Colgan are devastated and saddened by the loss of Scott and Steve, two well-respected and well-liked crewmembers. On behalf of everyone at our company, I wish to express our deepest personal sympathy to their families and friends. All are in our prayers."

**   Report created 8/28/2003   Record 2  **
IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 240CJ        Make/Model: BE19      Description: 19 Musketeer Sport, Sport [sic]
  Date: 08/26/2003     Time: 1938
  Event Type: Accident   Highest Injury: Fatal     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Destroyed
LOCATION
  City: HYANNIS   State: MA   Country: US
DESCRIPTION
  CJC9446 DEPARTED HYANNIS ARPT RWY 24, IFR TO ALBANY, GIVEN HEADING 270 AFTER DEPARTURE.  ACFT DECLARED AN EMERGENCY AFTER DEPARTURE AND CRASHED IN THE WATER 3 MI SOUTH OF HYANNIS. THE TWO POB SUFFERED FATAL INJURIES. HYANNIS, MA.
INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   2
                 # Crew:  2     Fat:   2     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Pass:   0     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
WEATHER: KHYA 261940Z 20007KT 10SM CLR 24/19 A2986
OTHER DATA
  Activity: Business      Phase: Climb      Operation: General Aviation
  Departed: HYANNIS, MA                 Dep Date: 08/26/2003   Dep. Time: 1938
  Destination: ALBANY, NY               Flt Plan: IFR          Wx Briefing: U
  Last Radio Cont:
  Last Clearance: CLRD TO LND RWY33
  FAA FSDO: BOSTON, MA  (NE01)                    Entry date: 08/27/2003