NTSB investigators arrived today in Odessa, Texas, where a Cessna Citation II crashed and burned yesterday morning moments after departing from Runway 16 at Odessa-Schlemeyer Field. The pilot and a passenger were killed, and one person was injured and rescued from a burning home.
Unofficial preliminary information indicates that moments after lift-off, the twinjet clipped a power line some 1,000 feet beyond the end of Runway 16 before crashing in an alley adjacent to a mobile home park at about 7 a.m. local time. Witnesses told local media that the aircraft appeared to be struggling to gain altitude. In addition to mobile homes, the crash also damaged or destroyed several other structures and vehicles and started a brush fire that was soon contained.
The 1991 Citation, registered since June 2022 to N689VP LLC of Pasadena, Texas, was on a planned Part 91 flight from Odessa to Houston-Ellington Field. Metar weather readings at the approximate time of the accident were clear; visibility 10 sm; temperature 81 degrees F; and wind 190 degrees at seven knots.
Including this accident, the basic Citation II has been involved in 13 accidents and 51 fatalities since 1989, according to Flight Safety Foundation’s Aviation Safety Network.