Pilot Judgment Error Caused Citation III Hail Damage

A pilot’s decision to overfly convective weather instead of deviating around it caused a Cessna Citation III to sustain substantial hail damage over Colorado on June 13, 2025, according to the NTSB final report. The NTSB also noted that the right-seat pilot did not hold a type rating for the twinjet and did not meet regulatory requirements to act as second-in-command. The aircraft requires two pilots.

For approximately three months, the accident remained unreported to the NTSB until authorities received an anonymous complaint. Investigators found the damaged Citation III “at the airplane owner’s hangar at the destination airport where it was undergoing repairs.”

Departing Las Vegas on a Part 91 flight, the 58-year-old airline transport pilot and flight instructor was with a 26-year-old commercial pilot receiving instruction in the right seat. There was also one passenger onboard.

A sigmet for a line of weather was in effect near the accident location. The pilot attempted to overfly the weather at FL430 but encountered heavy turbulence and opted to descend to FL410, where heavy hail struck the aircraft, cracking the windscreen and damaging the leading edges. The pilot acknowledged in his statement, “This could have been prevented by diverting 80 to 100 miles north instead of attempting to overfly.”

After encountering turbulence and hail at FL410, the pilot descended to FL350, reduced speed from Mach 0.75 to Mach 0.68, and continued approximately 495 nm to the planned destination, rather than landing immediately at a closer airport.

The aircraft sustained substantial damage to both wings, empennage, and windshield. No injuries were reported.

The pilot stated, “There was no mechanical malfunction/failure of the airplane that would have precluded normal airplane operation.”

Weather observations at Sidney, Nebraska, 10 nm from the accident location, reported instrument meteorological conditions with convective turbulence, 19-knot winds gusting to 31 knots, and light thunderstorms with rain. The NTSB classified both forecast and actual turbulence as severe and convective.

The ATP-rated pilot had 13,400 hours TT, including 126 hours in the Citation III. Total hours for the commercial-rated pilot were 1,172.8, with 7.8 hours in type.