On final approach to Auburn/Lewiston Municipal Airport, the Bar Harbor Airlines Beechcraft Model 99 crashed short of the runway, killing all six passengers and two crew on board.

Among the passengers was Samantha Smith, a 13-year-old American schoolgirl who had become famous as a goodwill ambassador to the Soviet Union[2] and had been cast on the television show Lime Street.

The flight crew consisted of captain Roy W. Fraunhofer and first officer David C. Owen, who had flown the aircraft from Bangor to Boston and back earlier that afternoon in increasingly worsening weather.

On the second trip, they were advised while on the ground in Augusta that because of air-traffic control delays in Boston, their return flight 1788 via Auburn/Lewiston, Maine, would be canceled.

The captain accepted the routing but advised that he would amend the flight plan to Auburn after passing Pease VOR near Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

The agent reported a 300 foot (90 m) obscured, indefinite ceiling with visibility of 1 mile (1,600 m) in light drizzle and winds of 020° (north-northeast) at 4 knots (7 km/h).

Shortly after this call, a controller in Portland contacted Flight 1808 to advise that they were drifting east of the ILS approach course to Runway 4 at Auburn.

The captain responded "OK.” Almost a minute later, the controller advised Flight 1808 that they were passing the Lewie NDB beacon at the outer marker for the approach and asked if they were receiving the signal.

In its report, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) noted that the controller in Portland used "poor judgment" while assisting the flight.