Ikke akkurat god Airmanship i denne historien - Curt Lewis

 

NTSB final report blames pilots for 2019 incident at Richmond airport

RICHMOND, Ind. — The crew of a corporate airplane should have abandoned its attempt to land on a snow-covered Richmond Municipal Airport runway, according to investigators.

The National Transportation Safety Board on Thursday published its final report on the investigation into the Feb. 11, 2019, incident that saw the Beech 400 roll about 750 feet beyond runway 6/24, crossing a field and Ind. 227 before striking a farm fence.

Neither the pilot, co-pilot nor the passenger was injured in the crash.

The NTSB said the plane landed about 3,100 feet along the 5,502-foot runway, leaving it inadequate distance to stop, especially on a runway covered with snow. After the crash, the pilot checked online resources and discovered the airport was closed, the report said.

That report states the probable cause of the incident: “The flight crew’s decision to continue an unstable approach under conditions that exceeded the airplane’s landing performance capabilities, which resulted in a runway overrun and impact with terrain.”

It also noted environmental issues of a tailwind and the snow-covered runway.

The pilot and co-pilot, who worked for Stein’s Aircraft Services in Wisconsin, have not been identified. The pilot was at that time a 62-year-old man who had 11,915 hours of flight time in all aircraft, and the co-pilot was at that time a 53-year-old man with 4,082 hours of flight time.

A chartered airplane skidded on a snow-covered, Richmond Municipal Airport runway Monday. It plowed off the runway, through a field, across Indiana 227 and into a fence.

The flight left Waukesha County Airport about 9:17 a.m. Feb. 11, 2019. The pilot said the flight crew checked weather conditions multiple times prior to takeoff and saw no notices regarding the Richmond airport’s runways. However, the airport twice issued notices prior to 9 a.m. that there was 2 inches of wet snow on all runways, taxiways and aprons, then issued a notice that the airport would be closed from 10:25 a.m. Feb. 11, 2019, to 10:25 a.m. Feb. 12, 2019, the report said.

During approach in foggy conditions at Richmond, the co-pilot advised that the airplane was high on final approach. The pilot saw the coating of snow on the runway, but he elected to land anyway, the report said. The touchdown at 10:06 p.m. was more than halfway down the runway, and use of thrust reversers and braking did not stop the airplane.

The report’s analysis said the pilots’ decision to continue “the unstable approach” and landing on a snow-covered runway despite the inadequate length of runway remaining resulted in the overrun. It also said the runway length likely would have been inadequate even if it were dry.