The pilot at the controls of a 2003 Cessna Citation Excel that overran the runway at California's Oroville Municipal Airport (OVE) on August 21 following a rejected takeoff told investigators the jet failed to respond as he pulled back on the yoke. According to an NTSB preliminary report released today, the pilot flying (PF) reported "a weird sensation" as he attempted to rotate for takeoff after the pilot not flying (PNF) called out Vr. The PF then pulled back again on the yoke but told investigators he noticed no movement of the aircraft's nose. The PNF then called for the abort, with the PF deploying “full thrust reversers and maximum braking.”
Registered as N91GY and operating as a Delta Private Jets flight to Portland, Oregon, the twinjet overran the runway and came to rest approximately 1,990 feet from the departure end. Surveillance camera footage captured the takeoff roll and the initial overrun. The eight passengers and two crew onboard safely evacuated before the aircraft caught fire in the accident.
The PF told investigators he updated the aircraft's flight management system with changes to their departure clearance before taking the runway and completing the before-takeoff checklist. According to the preliminary report, investigators noted "tire transfer marks" extending from the Runway 2 hold short line to the wreckage site.
A Cessna Citation Excel that overran the runway following a rejected takeoff from Oroville Municipal Airport (OVE) in Northern California didn’t respond to pilot inputs and left behind a long trail of tire rubber, according to an NTSB preliminary report.
The pilot flying (PF) told investigators they had paused at the hold-short line to Runway 2 (6,020 feet x 100 feet) to update the aircraft's flight management system (FMS) with a “waypoint fix and departure change” before taking the runway and running the before takeoff checklist.
"Following completion of the checklist, they initiated takeoff and the [pilot not flying, PNF] called 'airspeed alive,' V1, and Vr,” the NTSB noted. “The [PF] stated that 'it was just a weird sensation' as he pulled the yoke back and the airplane didn't lift off. The [PF] further stated that he pulled the yoke back a second time and noticed no movement of the nose.”
The PNF then called for the abort, and the PF “applied full thrust reversers and maximum braking," read the preliminary report. "Subsequently, the airplane exited the departure end of the runway, impacted a ditch, and skidded across a grass-covered area, where a post-impact fire ensued."
All eight passengers and two crewmembers escaped without injury in the August 21 runway excursion. The aircraft came to rest approximately 1,990 feet from the pavement, its nose oriented roughly 40 degrees right of the runway centerline.
Investigators noted what they termed "tire transfer marks" extending from the Runway 2 hold-short line, continuing along the runway and to the wreckage site. A witness photo showed the airframe largely intact and resting level “on the underside of the fuselage and wings” before fire consumed it.
Surveillance video footage obtained from an FBO on the field showed the aircraft initially holding short of Runway 2 for nearly four minutes. "The airplane then taxied forward toward Runway 2, stopped, and remained stationary for about 18 seconds, until it began to taxi again onto the runway," the NTSB noted.
The aircraft remained stationary on the runway approximately 16 seconds before starting its takeoff roll, which the surveillance camera captured until the aircraft exited the frame 48 seconds later, at a point "about 730 ft beyond the departure end of Runway 2,” investigators stated.
The 2003 C560XL, registered N91GY, was operating for Delta Private Jets on an IFR flight plan to Portland, Oregon. The Oroville accident was the second fiery runway excursion of a Citation jet in less than a week, following an August 15 overrun involving a Cessna Citation Latitude (C680A) on landing at Elizabethton Municipal Airport near Bristol, Tennessee. Retired race car driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr., his wife, infant daughter, a dog, and the two pilots emerged from that accident without serious injuries.