Bombardier Canadair CL-600 Challenger, Aspen, Colo., Feb. 9, 2006–The NTSB said the cause of the accident was the Challenger’s encounter with wake turbulence.
The pilot said that when he was landing on Runway 15 at Aspen-Pitkin County Airport he encountered wake vortices from the BAe 146 just taking off from Runway 33. At 50 feet agl, the Challenger rolled hard to the left and the stall warning horn sounded. The pilot added power and the airplane rolled hard to the right. He was able to arrest the roll, but the nose dropped and the right main landing gear hit the runway. The Challenger’s cockpit voice recorder indicated that the jet was cleared to land at 26 minutes 30 seconds into the recording. The BAe 146 was cleared for takeoff at 28:46. The Challenger’s stall warning sounded at 31:12 and the sound of impact was heard at 31:15.