Story ID: 111May17
Fatalities Drop but Total Bizav Accidents Increase
By: Gordon Gilbert
Caption: Turbine business airplane accidents worldwide claimed the lives of fewer people in the first quarter—16 compared to 25 in the same period last year. 
Word Count: 775
In the first quarter of this year turbine business airplane accidents worldwide claimed the lives of 16 people compared with 25 in the same period last year, but the number of nonfatal mishaps rose to 21 from 12. According to preliminary data compiled by AIN, U.S.-registered jets were involved in one fatal accident in each of the first quarters, both occurring under Part 91.There were no reported fatal crashes involving non-U.S.-registered business jets in the first quarters of this year or last.

The first fatal jet accident of this year happened on March 24 when a Cessna Citation 500 being flown under IFR by a private pilot, the sole person aboard, crashed while being radar vectored for an approach to an airport that was not the flight-planned destination. Weather was VMC at the time: 7:25 p.m. local. The pilot told controllers that he was requesting vectors because his autopilot was not working and he was “having steering problems.”  When the jet was about 15 miles from the airport, radar and radio contact was lost.

Still under NTSB investigation was the first fatal crash of a business jet last year. On Jan. 18, 2016, a U.S.-registered Citation 525 on a Part 91 IFR flight broke up while maneuvering at altitude, killing the ATP-certified pilot and his passenger.

One N-registered business jet was involved in a serious nonfatal accident in the first three months of this year. On January 16 at noon a Citation 525S hit a fence, trees and terrain following loss of control on landing. The private pilot received serious injuries and the airplane was destroyed by impact forces and fire. The jet was operating under Part 91 on an IFR flight plan in VMC.

A second mishap in the first quarter was classified by the NTSB as an accident because it resulted in “substantial” damage. On Jan. 2, 2017, a Hawker 800XP suffered a nose gear collapse during the landing roll. The two ATP pilots were not injured. 
Fatalities Also Drop for Turboprops
Non-U.S.- and U.S.-registered business turboprop operations also improved their fatality record in the first quarter of this year compared with the first three months of 2016. This year, one accident involving an N-registered propjet claimed two lives. In the same period last year, seven people died in one crash. On January 23 this year, at about 12:30 p.m. local in VMC, a Beechcraft King Air 300 was destroyed when it hit terrain during takeoff from Tucson International Airport. The pilot and passenger were killed. An IFR flight plan was filed for the planned Part 91 operation.

The one fatal accident involving a U.S.-registered turboprop in the first quarter last year occurred on March 29, when a private Mitsubishi MU-2B-60 crashed while on an instrument approach, killing the pilot-in-command, a pilot-passenger occupying the right cockpit seat and five passengers. The autopilot was being used to control the aircraft throughout the flight, according to investigators. Some 2.5 miles from the runway with gear and flaps lowered, the autopilot was disconnected, and almost immediately the aircraft departed from controlled flight, rolled into a steep right bank and descended rapidly, hitting the ground in a near-level attitude.

In the first quarter, four non-N-numbered turboprop accidents killed 13 people compared with 16 who died in five accidents in the first quarter of 2016. However, as with accidents of U.S. turbine business airplanes, the number of non-fatal mishaps jumped—to seven in the first quarter of this year from three in the first quarter a year ago.
Challenger In-flight Upset
The most unusual accident in the first quarter happened on January 7 over the Indian Ocean. A German-registered Bombardier Challenger 604 being operated by Oberhaching-based MHS Aviation encountered wake turbulence from a nearby Airbus A380.

According to Bombardier, the twinjet went through several “abnormal” flight attitudes and accelerations beyond the flight envelope, lost “significant” altitude and diverted for an emergency landing. Some of the nine passengers were said to have been seriously injured. The German Federal Bureau of Accident Investigation is leading the official investigation. The aircraft is believed to have been written off as a result of damage sustained from excessive g forces during the encounter.

Meanwhile, no accidents or incidents were recorded for Part 91K jet or propjet operations; there were three incidents in January through March 2016. Part 135 flights accounted for two jet incidents and three turboprop nonfatal accidents in the first quarter compared with two incidents by air taxi jets and two nonfatal accidents with chartered business turboprops in the first three months of 2016.

  

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