Story ID: 
Two fatal bizjet accidents in two days
By: AIN Staff
Caption: On September 19, Learjet 25B N666TW was landing at Del Rio International Airport, Texas, and ran off the end of the runway, crossed a street, hit trees, ca
Word Count: 182
On September 19, Learjet 25B N666TW was landing at Del Rio International Airport, Texas, and ran off the end of the runway, crossed a street, hit trees, caught fire and came to rest in a cemetery. The airplane, operated by Dallas-based Ameristar, was destroyed and the pilot was killed. The copilot was seriously hurt. Weather was VFR. Witnesses reported the jet came in “fast and high.” The very next day, at about 7 p.m., the three pilots in a Hawker 700A (N45BP) were killed when their aircraft suddenly descended from altitude and crashed in a field northwest of Beaumont Municipal Airport, Texas. The airplane, operated by StarFlite Aviation of Houston, was on a training flight and had been cleared to a block of airspace between 5,000 and 7,000 feet just before the accident. Weather was VFR. Killed were training pilot and PIC David Howard, 36; captain Ronald Trahan, 42; and SIC trainee Santiago Miravete, 27. (In August 2001 Ameristar lost two pilots when their Learjet 25 crashed on takeoff from New York’s Ithaca Tompkins Airport in thick fog. The NTSB blamed that accident on pilot spatial disorientation.)