Avjet Aspen Crash

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**Avjet Aspen Crash**
Summary
Gulfstream III jet similar to N303GA
Date	March 29, 2001
Type	Pilot error
Site	Aspen, CO
Fatalities	18
Injuries	0
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Gulfstream III
Operator	Avjet Corporation
Tail number	N303GA
Passengers	15
Crew	3
Survivors	0

Avjet Aspen Crash was a Gulfstream III jet aircraft, registered N303GA, operating as a chartered passenger flight by Avjet Corporation, that crashed into terrain while on instrument approach to Aspen, Colorado on March 29, 2001. The 2 pilots, 1 flight attendant and 15 passengers all perished in the accident.^[1]^[2]

The NTSB concluded that the accident was caused by the captain's premature descent below the minimum descent altitude without visual reference with the runway.

The accident's investigation also brought into focus several generic safety issues, such as pressure applied on charter pilots by customers, night flight into mountainous terrain airports and ambiguity of some FAA rules.^[3]

1 Flight history
2 Investigation and final report
3 Aftermath
4 Litigation
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Flight history

Chart for VOR/DME-C instrument approach at Aspen, from NTSB Report

The captain and first officer reported for duty at Avjet's Burbank, CA facility around noon on the day of the accident. After checking the weather and the aircraft, they embarked on an 11 minute repositioning flight to LAX, where the passengers were subsequently boarded. The flight was originally scheduled for 16:30 MST (Mountain Standard Time), but departed LAX at 17:11 MST, 41 minutes delayed, due to late arriving passengers. The crew were informed earlier in the day by an FAA specialist that they would not be legally able to land in Aspen at night under instrument flight rules. In addition, they were aware that due to noise abatement restrictions, their jet aircraft was not allowed to land at Aspen at night, which meant they had to land there by 18:58 MST to beat the night curfew. Their estimated arrival time was 18:46 MST, 12 minutes prior to the curfew. As the flight approached the Aspen airport, it became evident that various other flights were 'missing the approach' - i.e. were not able to complete an instrument approach into the field and had to perform a missed approach. Some flights did get in, however. The flight was cleared for the VOR/DME-C instrument approach into Aspen, at 18:56:06 MST. The flight proceeded to the Red Table VOR and executed a sequence of designated step-down maneuvers, culminating in the final approach. The Aspen airport is surrounded by high terrain on all sides, and requires a fairly steep descent to land on its single runway. The flight crew continued to descend past the missed approach point, where the runway must be in sight to continue, and were attempting to visually locate the runway in snow showers and increasing darkness, when they crashed into the terrain in a steep left bank, at 19:01:57 MST.

[edit] Investigation and final report

Profile view of N303GA's approach to Aspen, NTSB Report

The NTSB launched an investigation into the accident.^[1] The aircraft's cockpit voice recorder was recovered from the wreckage and the recorded data was found intact and usable. There was no flight data recorder installed, nor one required for this charter flight, which operated under 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 135 Air Taxi rules.

Part of the investigation focused on the fact that the instrument approach at the destination airport was not legal for night landing, and the overall pressure applied on the charter company and flight crew by the charter customer to complete the flight into the original destination.^[3] According to witnesses, the charter customer, upon learning that the flight might have to be diverted to an alternate airport due to the night landing restriction, had his business assistant call Avjet management, to "let them know that the airplane was not going to be redirected". In addition, according to witnesses, when the charter customer learned that the captain had discussed the possible diversion with some of the passengers as they were waiting for the late arrivals, he had his assistant call Avjet to instruct the captain to "keep his comments to himself." The Avjet charter department scheduler subsequently testified that "the captain felt that it was important to land at [Aspen] because of the substantial amount of money that the [charter] customer spent for a dinner party."

A daytime fair weather view of the approach to runway 15 at Aspen airport, depicting accident site of N303GA, NTSB Report

Based on information obtained from the cockpit voice recorder, during the approach sequence the flight attendant escorted an unidentified male passenger to the flight deck, and had him seated in the jump seat. According to the NTSB's analysis, "the presence of this passenger in the cockpit, especially if it were the charter customer, most likely further heightened the pressure on the flight crew to land at [Aspen]."

The NTSB issued its final report on June 11, 2002, with the following Probable Cause:^[1]

The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the flight crew's operation of the airplane below the minimum descent altitude without an appropriate visual reference for the runway.

The NTSB added the following Contributing Factors:

Contributing to the cause of the accident were the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) unclear wording of the March 27, 2001, Notice to Airmen regarding the nighttime restriction for the VOR/DME-C approach to the airport and the FAA's failure to communicate this restriction to the Aspen tower; the inability of the flight crew to adequately see the mountainous terrain because of the darkness and the weather conditions; and the pressure on the captain to land from the charter customer and because of the airplane's delayed departure and the airport's nighttime landing restriction.

[edit] Aftermath

After the accident, Avjet decided to prohibit airport operations at Aspen and three other mountainous airports between sunset and sunrise, and issued the following memorandum to its flight crews and schedulers:^[1]

"if you cannot accomplish a landing and be on the ground at one of these airports before sunset you must divert to a suitable alternate. All passengers for one of these destinations must be informed of this policy. Flight crew members must report any violation of this policy or pressure from passengers to violate this policy to the Director of Operations or Chief Pilot."

Avjet also added the following policy to its Oprations Manual after the accident:

"Only an Avjet assigned crewmember, check airman, or FAA observer may occupy the observer's seat (jump seat) in any Avjet aircraft. Charter passengers shall never be allowed to occupy the observer's seat at any time."

[edit] Litigation

A wrongful death lawsuit was filed by the families of three of the victims in Los Angeles, CA. After a jury found the captain and Avjet Corporation negligent, an out of court settlement was reached, where Avjet agreed to pay the plaintiffs a total of US$11.7M in damages.^[4] There were reportedly also other settlements for other victims.^[5]