Shortly after departing on a cargo flight from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, a Swearingen Metro II abruptly dropped out of radar coverage. The last few radar “hits” indicated that the aircraft had pitched nose-down into a 30,000-fpm descent. The wreckage was found littering a mountainside. Many of the pieces had separated from the aircraft before hitting the ground.
The absence of recorded voice and flight data, and the severity of the aircraft damage, provided a challenge to investigators in determining the cause of the fatal crash. There was no sign of an aircraft malfunction, and neither the captain nor the first officer had radioed that something was amiss before the Metro began the plunge.
One critical finding emerged from toxicological tests and an autopsy of the captain: He had been drinking heavily before the flight. Alcohol intoxication obviously was a factor in the accident, but precisely how the captain’s impairment affected the flight could not be determi…
