MITSUBISHI MU-2, LEWISTON, IDAHO, FEB. 11, 2000–“The pilot failed to follow the flight manual procedures and did not engage the continuous ignition system, resulting in both engines flaming out when ice blocked the air induction system. Additional factors to the accident included the hilly terrain, the icing conditions and the operator’s non-compliance with a Service Bulletin for the installation of an auto-ignition system.” So reads the probable cause in the NTSB’s final report on N152BK, an American Check Transport MU-2. The pilot died when he hit a ridge a mile-and-a-half short of the runway at Lewiston-Nez Perce Airport.
The flight departed Boise, Idaho, at 0723 destined for Lewiston. A second leg of an all- day cargo run, the flight originated in Salt Lake City. The routine, which the pilot regularly flew during the preceding 12 months, was to fly during the morning from Salt Lake City to Boise to Lewiston and then to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. In the early evening the pilot would return to Salt Lake City via Lewiston and Boise. Aircraft records showed the flight time to complete the run was 5.2 hr; in between, the pilot got nine hours of rest.
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