Preliminary Report: Circuit City Citation crashes on approach

Cessna Citation 560, Pueblo, Colo., Feb. 16, 2005–On a three-mile final for the ILS approach for Runway 26R to the Pueblo Municipal Airport, a Circuit City Citation crashed in freezing rain and fog, killing all eight people on board. Visibility was eight miles, with broken clouds at 900 feet, overcast at 1,400 feet. The temperature was -3 degrees C; dew point -5 degrees C. ATC had warned the jet that it was too low. The NTSB told AIN that the aircraft’s last ATC radar return, four miles out and about a minute before the crash, indicated an altitude of 4,900 feet. The airport elevation is 4,726 feet.

The pilot, copilot and six passengers were killed and the airplane destroyed. The Citation was traveling from Circuit City headquarters in Richmond, Va., with another company Citation, which landed without incident. The second crew reported light to moderate icing in clouds at about 10,000 feet and there were two other pireps on icing, along with an airmet. Both Circuit City airplanes were headed to Orange County/John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, Calif.