FAA orders investigation of Beech aircraft
Directive affects planes similar to one that crashed January 8
From Patty Davis
CNN
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Nearly three weeks after 21 people died in a commuter plane crash in North Carolina, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered emergency inspections Monday of all planes similar to the one that went down.
The FAA also is asking that airlines weigh passengers and bags before boarding and loading of planes with 10 to 19 seats to see whether current weight estimates are appropriate. The agency is studying whether excessive weight on Air Midwest Flight 5481 could have contributed to its crash January 8 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Regional airlines do not weigh passengers or cargo. Instead, they use estimates -- 185 pounds per adult passenger and 25 pounds per bag.
The FAA maintenance directive calls for operators to inspect the elevator rigging on all Beech 1900, 1900C and 1900D aircraft by midnight Friday. The order applies to 368 aircraft in service in the United States and a total of 688 worldwide.
The elevator system on a plane's tail controls its pitch, or up-and-down movement. FAA investigators have focused on the plane's elevator, which had undergone routine maintenance two days before the crash.
Unusual up-and-down motion in the elevator was reported on all nine flights after the maintenance -- including the one that crashed.
