Flight 5925 had departed from Chicago at 15:25, with Captain Kate Gathje, First Officer Darren McCombs, and ten passengers. After a stop at Burlington, Iowa, the flight proceeded to Quincy. Two aircraft at Quincy were ready for departure when Flight 5925 was on approach. Both aircraft, a Beechcraft King Air and a Piper Cherokee, were proceeding to Runway 04. As Quincy is a non-towered airport, all three aircraft were communicating on the Common Traffic Advisory Frequency. On approach, Captain Gathje inquired as to whether the King Air would hold short of the runway, or depart before their arrival. After receiving no response, Gathje called again, and received a reply from the Cherokee that they were holding short of Runway 04. However, due to the ground proximity warning system sounding in the cockpit, only part of the transmission was received by the 1900. Contributing to the cause of the accident was the Cherokee pilot’s interrupted radio transmission, which led to the United Express crew's misunderstanding of the transmission as an indication from the King Air that it would not take off until after Flight 5925 had cleared the runway. Assuming that both planes were holding short, Flight 5925 landed on Runway 13. The King Air, however, had taxied into position on Runway 04, and had begun its takeoff roll when Flight 5925 landed. Both aircraft collided at the intersection of runways 4 and 13. The aircraft skidded for, coming to rest alongside Runway 13, and caught fire. All 12 aboard the United Express flight survived the initial impact, but were trapped due to a jammed door. Several pilots in the vicinity of the crash came to the scene, but were unable to open the doors of the aircraft before both planes were destroyed by fire. All 12 aboard Flight 5925 died due to Smoke Inhalation, and both pilots of the King Air; Neil Reinwald and Laura Brooks Winkleman, perished in the accident, being killed on impact.
Cause
The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the cause of the accident was the King Air pilots' failure to effectively monitor both the common frequency and to scan for traffic. A contributing factor was the Cherokee's transmission at the same time as the United Express transmission. Lack of adequate rescue and firefighting equipment was cited as a factor in the high fatality rate.
The crash was featured in the 15th season of the television documentary seriesMayday in an episode titled "Fatal Transmission", which featured interviews with witnesses and accident investigators and a dramatic reenactment of the crash.
