Six people lost their lives in three business jet accidents in the first six weeks of 2024—a sixfold year-over-year increase in fatalities. According to preliminary information, two of the mishaps involved dual engine flameouts. In the same period last year, the sole-occupant pilot was killed in a singular business jet crash.
On January 20, a Russian-registered Dassault Falcon 10 on an air ambulance flight from Thailand to Moscow crash-landed on a mountain slope in Afghanistan after the crew reported first that one engine had flamed out, followed shortly by the other. Killed in the crash were the patient and her husband. The four other occupants survived.
Two pilots died on Wednesday in a crash of a U.S.-registered Hawker 900XP in Utah about 10 minutes after taking off from Grand Junction, Colorado, on a planned flight to Seattle. ADS-B data suggests that the aircraft had reached 20,000 feet before descending at more than 13,000 fpm before impact.
Preceding Friday’s crash landing of a Bombardier Challenger 604 while approaching Florida’s Naples Airport on a charter flight from Ohio, the crew reported that both engines had flamed out. The three passengers survived, but the two pilots were killed.
In addition to these three business jet accidents, January alone witnessed the fatal crashes of three non-U.S.-registered business turboprops, resulting in the deaths of all 17 of their occupants.