During takeoff from Robertson Field in Plainville, Connecticut, on September 2, a Cessna Citation 560XL impacted a powerline pole then crashed into a building, killing both pilots and the two passengers and causing serious injuries to one person and minor injuries to three people on the ground, according to the recently released NTSB preliminary report. The report further noted that the jet’s “parking brake handle…and the respective valve that it controlled, were both found in the brake set position.”
There were tire skid marks on the runway, and the flight data recorder (FDR) showed that the jet reached a maximum speed of 123.75 knots after departing the end of the runway. It had remained in a weight-on-wheels or on-ground state until beyond the departure end. The NSTB compared longitudinal acceleration values recorded during the final takeoff roll with those from two previous flights, and the accident flight values were lower (0.245 g versus 0.365 and 0.35 g). “Additionally, the time the airplane took to accelerate from 20 to 100 knots during the accident flight and the previous two takeoffs were 17 seconds, 11.5 seconds, and 12 seconds, respectively,” the report noted.
The jet’s FDR does not record parking brake valve position, according to the NTSB, “and the airplane’s takeoff configuration warning system did not incorporate parking brake valve position as part of its activation logic.”