With AIN Media Group's Aviation International News and its predecessor Aviation Convention News celebrating the company's 50th year of continuous publication this year, AIN’s editorial staff is going back through the archives each month to bring readers some interesting events that were covered over the past half-century.
REWIND (MARCH 2005): The recently released NTSB preliminary report on the February 2 crash of a Bombardier Challenger 600 at New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport was all too brief, considering the stir the spectacular, though nonfatal accident caused in the national media. On takeoff, Challenger N370V not only slid off the end of Runway 6 but went through the airport fence and hurtled across busy six-lane U.S. Route 46 at 7:17 a.m., striking cars and finally slamming into a warehouse across the highway, where it burst into flames.
The corporate jet, en route to Chicago Midway Airport, was owned by 448 Alliance of Dallas; leased to DDH Aircraft, also of Dallas; and operated by Platinum Jet Management of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The crash temporarily closed the airport and stopped traffic on the highway.
FAST-FORWARD: The three crew and eight passengers escaped the burning aircraft with only minor injuries, while two people in a passing car were seriously injured. This crash, which was eventually attributed to improper weight and balance calculations on the part of the crew (part of a dangerous and fraudulent tankering scheme by the now-defunct operator to cut costs and take advantage of less-expensive fuel contracts) became one of the seminal events in modern private aviation history. It launched years of investigations and resulted in heavy fines and criminal convictions for the executives of Platinum Jet for conducting illegal Part 135 flights. The incident also spurred the FAA to shine a spotlight on the issue of operational control.