Despite experience, crew of doomed plane made fatal errors
NTSB: 11 second delay was difference between life and death
The probable cause of the crash of a business jet in a Boston suburb last May was a series of errors by an experienced flight crew, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said at a public meeting this week. Specifically, the pilots failed to perform a flight control check before takeoff then attempted to take off while critical flight controls were locked because a gust lock was engaged. Finally, they delayed rejecting the take-off after they became aware the flight controls were locked.
“This investigation highlights the importance of following standard operating procedures and underscores the significance of procedural compliance,” said NTSB Vice Chairman Bella Dinh-Zarr. “Complacency does not have a place in the cockpit of any aircraft.”
At 9:40 pm EDT on May 31, 2014, a Gulfstream G-IV business jet bound for Atlantic City crashed after it overran the end of runway 11 during a rejected takeoff at Laurence G. Hanscom Field in Bedford, Massachusetts. The airplane rolled through the paved overrun area; continued across a grassy area, striking approach lights and an antenna; and traveled through the airport fence before coming to rest in a ravine. A postcrash fire engulfed the airplane almost immediately. Everyone aboard – two pilots, a flight attendant and four passengers – were killed.
During the engine start process, the flight crew failed to disengage the airplane’s gust lock system, which locks the primary flight control surfaces while the plane is parked to protect them against wind gusts.