Snow was falling onto snow-covered ground —and a snow-covered runway — at Presque Isle (Maine, U.S.) International Airport when the pilots of an Embraer EMB145XR expressed confusion about their position but continued the descent, according to the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The airplane struck snow-covered grass next to the runway, leaving three of the 31 people on board with minor injuries.
In its final report on the March 4, 2019, accident, which occurred during the crew’s second attempt to land, the NTSB said the probable cause was the flight crew’s “decision, due to confirmation bias, to continue the descent below the decision altitude when the runway had not been positively identified.” (The report defines confirmation bias as “an unconscious cognitive bias that involves a tendency to seek information to support a belief, instead of information that is contrary to that belief.”)
Contributing factors were the first officer’s fatigue, wh…
