British JETSTREAM 32 N875JX

Summary

On 20 October 2004 at about 00:37 local time, a British JETSTREAM 32 registered N875JX, operated by Corporate Airlines, was involved in an accident near Kirksville, Missouri, United States. 15 people were on board and 13 died, 2 were seriously injured. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

20 October 2004 at 00:37

Classification

Accident

Location

Kirksville, Missouri, United States

Nearest airport

Kirksville Regional (IRK)

Coordinates

40.1905, -92.5705

Aircraft

British JETSTREAM 32

Registration

N875JX

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Corporate Airlines

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

St. Louis → Kirksville

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

IMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

DCA05MA004

13 people died.

the pilots' failure to follow established procedures and properly conduct a nonprecision instrument approach at night in IMC, including their descent below the minimum descent altitude (MDA) before required visual cues were available (which continued unmoderated until the airplane struck the trees) and their failure to adhere to the established division of duties between the flying and nonflying (monitoring) pilot. Contributing to the accident was the pilots' failure to make standard callouts and the current Federal Aviation Regulations that allow pilots to descend below the MDA into a region in which safe obstacle clearance is not assured based upon seeing only the airport approach lights. The pilots' unprofessional behavior during the flight and their fatigue likely contributed to their degraded performance. .

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The Board's full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/publictn.htm. The Aircraft Accident Report number is NTSB/AAR-06/01. On October 19, 2004, about 1937 central daylight time, Corporate Airlines (doing business as American Connection) flight 5966, a BAE Systems BAE-J3201, N875JX, struck trees on final approach and crashed short of runway 36 at Kirksville Regional Airport (IRK), Kirksville, Missouri. The flight was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 as a scheduled passenger flight from Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, in St. Louis, Missouri, to IRK. The captain, first officer, and 11 of the 13 passengers were fatally injured, and 2 passengers received serious injuries. The airplane was destroyed by impact and a postimpact fire. Night instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) prevailed at the time of the accident, and the flight operated on an instrument flight rules flight plan.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.