Pilot, Instructor Blamed in Fatal Training Accident

Performing intentional stalls at too low an altitude and the flight instructor’s “inadequate supervision” were blamed by the NTSB for the crash on September 20 last year of a Hawker 700 operated by Starflite Management of Houston near Beaumont, Texas. Two pilots, both preparing for a Part 135 competency check, and the instructor were killed. According to the cockpit voice recorder, the pilots initiated the ill-fated stall of the Hawker 700 at 5,000 feet. The stick shaker sounded, and shortly thereafter the recording ended. Twenty-five eyewitnesses reported that the airplane was flying at low altitude and doing “erratic maneuvers.”