Summary
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On 28 November 2004, the crew of a Bombardier Challenger 601 lost control of their aircraft soon after getting airborne from Montrose and it crashed and caught fire killing three occupants and seriously injuring the other three. The Investigation found that the loss of control had been the result of a stall caused by frozen deposits on the upper wing surfaces after the crew had failed to ensure that the wings were clean or utilise the available ground de/anti ice service. It was concluded that the pilots' lack of experience of winter weather operations had contributed to their actions/inactions.
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General
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Tag(s)
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Inadequate Aircraft Operator Procedures
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FIRE
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Tag(s)
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Post Crash Fire
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HF
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Tag(s)
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Aircraft acceptance, Inappropriate crew response - skills deficiency, Procedural non compliance
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GND
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Tag(s)
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Ground de/anti icing ineffective
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LOC
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Tag(s)
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Flight Control Error"Flight Control Error" is not in the list (Airframe Structural Failure, Significant Systems or Systems Control Failure, Degraded flight instrument display, Uncommanded AP disconnect, AP Status Awareness, Non-normal FBW flight control status, Loss of Engine Power, Flight Management Error, Environmental Factors, Bird or Animal Strike, ...) of allowed values for the "LOC" property., Environmental Factors
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Safety Net Mitigations
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Stall Protection
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Available but ineffective
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Outcome
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Damage or injury
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Yes
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Aircraft damage
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Hull loss
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Injuries
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Many occupants
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Fatalities
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Many occupants ()
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Causal Factor Group(s)
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Group(s)
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Aircraft Operation
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Safety Recommendation(s)
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Group(s)
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Aircraft Operation
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Investigation Type
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Type
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Independent
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Loss of Control - Airframe Icing
Description
On 28 November 2004, a Challeger 601 operated by Global Aviation crashed on takeoff from Montrose, Colorado, USA, following loss of control due to airframe icing.
Synopsis
This is an extract from the Summary of the official report into the accident published by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) (USA)
“On November 28, 2004, about 0958 mountain standard time, a Canadair, Ltd., CL-600-2A12, N873G, registered to Hop-a-Jet, Inc., and operated by Air Castle Corporation dba Global Aviation as Glo-Air flight 73, collided with the ground during takeoff at Montrose Regional Airport (MTJ), Montrose, Colorado. The on-demand charter flight was operated under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 135 on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed, and snow was falling. Of the six occupants on board, the captain, the flight attendant, and one passenger were killed, and the first officer and two passengers were seriously injured. The airplane was destroyed by impact forces and postcrash fire. The flight was en route to South Bend Regional Airport (SBN), South Bend, Indiana.“
The probable cause of the accident was given as:
“…the flight crew's failure to ensure that the airplane’s wings were free of ice or snow contamination that accumulated while the airplane was on the ground, which resulted in an attempted takeoff with upper wing contamination that induced the subsequent stall and collision with the ground. A factor contributing to the accident was the pilots’ lack of experience flying during winter weather conditions.”
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Further Reading