East Coast Jets Flight 81
 A British Aerospace 125 similar to one involved. | |
| Accident summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | July 31, 2008 |
| Summary | Failed Go-around Attempt due to Pilot Error, Runway Overrun |
| Site | near Owatonna Degner Regional Airport |
| Passengers | 6 |
| Crew | 2 |
| Fatalities | 8 (all) |
| Survivors | 0 |
| Aircraft type | British Aerospace 125 |
| Operator | East Coast Jets |
| Registration | N818MV |
| Flight origin | Atlantic City International Airport, Atlantic City, New Jersey |
| Destination | Owatonna Degner Regional Airport, Owatonna, Minnesota |
East Coast Jets Flight 81 was a business jet flight operated by East Coast Jets using a British Aerospace 125, that crashed on July 31, 2008 while attempting a go-around from runway 30 at Owatonna Degner Regional Airport, Owatonna, Minnesota. The flight originated at Atlantic City International Airport, in New Jersey, with six passengers and two crew on board the aircraft. The aircraft hit the up-wind ILS aerials of runway 30, stalled and impacted 2,400 ft (730 m) from the runway. All eight on board the aircraft received fatal injuries.
Aircraft
The aircraft operating the flight was a British Aerospace 125-800A, registration N818MV, manufactured in 1986.
Flight
After first travelling from its base at Lehigh Valley International Airport[1] to Atlantic City, East Coast Jets Flight 81 departed from Atlantic City International Airport at 8:13 am, en-route to its destination, Owatonna Degner Regional Airport in Minnesota.[2] The Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) at Owatonna was 9:34 am., with six passsengers and two crew members on board. The captain, 40 years old, and first officer, 27 years old, planned on staying at Owatonna and returning to New Jersey with the same six passengers.
Accident
At 9:40 am, as Flight 81 neared Owatonna, air traffic control contacted the crew and ordered them to fly a go-around due to severe thunderstorms and moderate winds. Five minutes later, the aircraft touched down on Runway 30 at Owatonna Degner Regional Airport. The crew elected to go around at a late stage of the landing but failed to gain altitude before impacting the ILS aerials at the end of the runway. The aircraft stalled, dropped a wing and impacted the ground nose first in a corn field just off the runway, coming to rest 2,400 ft (730 m) from the runway. All eight occupants died as a result of the accident.[3]
Investigation
After initially suspecting an over-run, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators deduced that the aircraft suffered a failed go-around, after witnesses told of the attempt to take-off again. The NTSB cited the pilot's error in attempting a go-around as the primary cause of the accident, concluding that the plane would have come to rest within the runway safety margins. The NTSB cited other contributing causes, and issued a series of recommendations.[4]
Probable Cause
"The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the captain's decision to attempt a go-around late in the landing roll with insufficient runway remaining. Contributing to the accident were, 1, the pilots' poor crew coordination and lack of cockpit discipline; 2, fatigue, which likely impaired both pilots' performance; and 3, the failure of the Federal Aviation Administration to require crew resource management training and standard operating procedures for Part 135 operators."[5]
Aftermath
The NTSB issued 14 Safety Recommendations throughout 2011 for how to conduct a go-around whilst on the middle of the runway. Most of these were under the 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), and by their parts, 121, 135, and 91.
The six passengers were all connected with the construction of Atlantic City's gigantic Revel Casino, the city's tallest building, then under construction, and later closed. They had flown to Iowa to meet with the glass-walled project's glass manufacturer.[2] Wrongful death actions were filed on behalf of the passengers' families and were settled around the same time as the NTSB's report. The casino was described by some as a "memorial" to the flight's passengers. [6]
References
- ↑ Jim Deegan, "NTSB preliminary report issued in crash that killed Bethlehem-area pilots", The Express-Times, August 7, 2008.
- 1 2 Nick Ferraro and Tad Vezner, "8 dead after Owatonna plane crash; missing accounted for", Pioneer Press, July 30, 2008.
- ↑ "accident record". Retrieved 5 June 2017.
- ↑ Aubrey Cohen, "NTSB: Pilot in fatal crash tried go-around too late", Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 15, 2011.
- ↑ Lacagnina, Mark (9 May 2011). "Too Late to Go". Flight Safety Foundation. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
- ↑ Ho Nguyen, "Atlantic City's Revel seen as memorial to 6 executives who died in plane crash", The Press of Atlantic City, April 11, 2012.