N547JL

History of Flight

On July 18, 1998, at 1622 central daylight time, a North American Sabreliner, NA-265-80, N547JL, operated by Executive Aircraft Corporation, was destroyed when it impacted the terrain about four miles northeast of Florence, Kansas. The commercial pilot and copilot were fatally injured. The 14 CFR Part 91 flight had departed Newton Airport, Newton, Kansas, at about 1611 and was en route to Mid-Continent Airport, Wichita, Kansas. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan had been filed.

The airplane had departed Mid-Continent Airport at 1549 and was given a discrete transponder code during departure. Radar services were terminated at 1558, however, the pilot did not change the transponder code back to the VFR code of 1200, but kept the discrete code dialed in the transponder. The pilot was in the left seat, the copilot was in the right seat, and one passenger sat in the cabin.

The passenger reported that the flight was a direct flight to Newton, Kansas. He reported that the airplane was not shut down when they taxied to the ramp at Newton. The copilot left the airplane and found some keys to a van that the passenger used to drive back to Wichita. The copilot returned to the right seat and the airplane departed.

The passenger reported that the airplane did a low pass followed by a steep climb to about 10,000 feet mean sea level (msl). The airplane then departed to the northeast. The passenger, who was also a contract pilot for the company, reported that there were no indications of any type of problem with the airplane.

Witnesses at the Newton Airport (which had hosted a fly-in that day) reported that they saw the airplane do a low pass followed by about a 45 degree steep climb from the mid-point of runway 17.

The Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and radar data indicated that the pilots departed Newton Airport at 1611 and entered the left downwind traffic pattern.

At 1613:44, the pilot transmitted over the radio, "...in fact, I think we're just going to do a little pass here."

At 1615:04, the radar data indicated that the airplane had climbed to 6,200 feet mean sea level (msl) within .2 mile of the airport, and then turned left to the northeast, continuing to climb to about 10,000 feet msl.

The cockpit voice recorder recorded the following:

At 1614:57, the copilot said, "Jiminiy Christmas. [sound of laughter] Holy cow."

At 1615:37, the pilot said, "Go ahead and take it."

At 1615:39, the copilot said, "Okay."

At 1616:25, the pilot said, "You need to go to two hundred and fifty knots."

At 1616:51, the pilot said, "Let's go on that heading right there."

The radar data indicated that at 1616:53, the airplane was heading about 090 degrees. (All headings magnetic)

At 1617:36, the pilot instructed the copilot to climb to 12,500 feet msl.

The radar data indicated that the airplane's heading between 1617:41 and 1618:29 was about 045 degrees.

At 1618:13, the pilot said, "I'll tell you what you got to do for a check ride."

At 1618:17, the pilot said, "You got to go two hundred fifty knots, hundred eighty degree turn each way."

At 1618:22, the CVR indicated the sound of the altitude alerter. (The altitude alerter was not heard during the remainder of the flight.)

The radar data indicated that at 1618:29, the airplane was at 12,900 feet msl and had a ground speed of 375 knots.

At 1618:53, the pilot said, "and uuh. Anyway, let me show you what, how you do one of those. Let me see if I can get you ***." (An * indicates an unintelligible word.)

At 1619:10, the pilot said, "uhh..got a forty-five degree bank like this. Hold your altitude. You oughta have * just about a **. Just about a 10 degree pitch up and want you to hold your speed on ***. Set in there about eighty percent. Like that.... ."

The radar data indicated that between 1618:29 and 1619:53, the airplane had turned left about 90 degrees to a heading of about 315 degrees.

The radar data indicated that at 1619:17, the airplane was at 15,900 feet msl and had a ground speed of 340 knots.

At 1619:35, the pilot said, "....you roll out the other way... ."

At 1619:43, the pilot said, "....forty-five degrees right there. You just gotta hold about a four degree pitch up and fly two hundred and fifty knots all the way around the turn."

The radar data indicated that at 1605:05, the airplane had turned to the right about 90 degrees to a heading of about 045 degrees, and was at 16,000 feet msl, and had a ground speed of 308 knots.

At 1620:15, the pilot said, "And uh, ** get it there."

At 1620:20, the pilot said, "There's two fifty."

At 1620:22, the pilot said, "Roll into the turn. * that's forty-five degrees ***."

At 1620:27, the copilot said, "Yeah."

At 1620:28, the pilot said, "If you can do one of those, **."

At 1620:37, the pilot said, "See if you got any traffic out there."

The radar data indicated that at 1620:53, the airplane had turned to a heading of about 090 degrees, and was at 15,600 feet, and had a ground speed of 340 knots.

At 1620:56, the pilot asked, "Ready to make a circle here?"

At 1620:58, the copilot replied, "Yeah *. Okay. I don't like it."

At 1621:02, the pilot made an unintelligible comment.

At 1621:03, the copilot said, "** let's try it."

At 1621:04 the pilot said, "I mean uh...just uh, hang on here a minute. Show you..** sucker....just to give you some comfort in it."

The radar data indicated that at 1621:05, the airplane had turned to a heading of about 045 degrees and remained on a heading of about 045 degrees until 1622:05.

The radar data indicated that at 1621:05, the airplane was at 15,300 feet msl and had a ground speed of 330 knots on a heading of about 045 degrees.

The radar data indicated that at 1621:29, the airplane was at 15,900 feet and had a ground speed of 328 knots.

At 1621:32, the pilot said, "You're going to pitch up now and take it all the way around here."

At 1621:37, the pilot said, "Pitch up, twenty degrees up."

At 1621:40, the pilot said, "Just a *.."

The radar data indicated that at 1621:41, the airplane's ground speed was 354 knots, but an altitude readout was not indicated by the radar data.

At 1621:45, the CVR indicated that the copilot made the sound of a chuckle.

The radar data indicated that at 1621:53, the airplane had a ground speed of 286 knots, but an altitude readout was not indicated by the radar data.

The radar data indicated that at 1622:05, the airplane's ground speed was 86 knots, but an altitude readout was not indicated by the radar data.

At 1622:07, the pilot said, "Oh, Jim."

At 1622:12, the pilot said, "Jim, Jim, Jim."

At 1622:15, the CVR stopped recording. (See the CVR Group Chairman's Factual Report and the Recorded Radar Study Report)

The airplane impacted the ground about one mile east of the last radar hit at 1622:15.

Witnesses in the area reported hearing an airplane and a loud explosion. Witnesses reported seeing a fireball and smoke in the sky after hearing the explosion.

Personnel Information

The pilot was a commercial pilot with single engine land, multi-engine land, and helicopter ratings. He held a First Class medical certificate. He held single engine land and airplane instrument flight instructor ratings. A current pilot's logbook was not obtained. An old pilot's logbook indicated that the pilot had 4,800 total flight hours recorded on January 19, 1980. On March 1, 1995, the pilot indicated on an insurance form that he had 7,800 total hours with 3,175 hours in jet aircraft. 1,100 hours had been logged in a Sabreliner. The pilot's current medical form indicated he had a total of about 10,000 hours of flight time. On May 27, 1998, the pilot completed a flight check in a Falcon, DA-50.

The copilot was a private pilot with single engine land, multi-engine land, and instrument ratings. He held a Third Class medical certificate. The copilot's logbook indicated that on May 3, 1998, he had a total of about 478 flight hours. The copilot logged 14.7 hours of multi-engine flight time. The were no entries indicating flight time in jet aircraft. The logbook did not indicate a current biennial flight review.

Company officials reported that the copilot had flown as copilot in the Sabreliner with the pilot on previous occasions. No pilot logbook entries were made that would indicate that he had flown in a Sabreliner.

The pilot and copilot were brothers. The pilot was the owner of the company. The copilot operated one of the divisions of the company.

Aircraft Information

The airplane was a Sabreliner, NA265-80, serial number 380-069. The airplane seated ten and had a take-off gross weight of 23,500 pounds. The engines were GE CF700-2-D-2 turbofan jet engines which produced 4,370 pounds of thrust each. The airplane was on a Continuous Airworthiness maintenance schedule. The airplane had not flown since the last inspection on May 29, 1998. The total time on the airplane was 5,484 hours.

The left and right engines had 5,347 hours and 5,395 hours since new, respectively. The left engine had 2,233 hours since overhaul and 211 hours since hot section inspection. The right engine had 2,192 hours since overhaul and 211 hours since hot section inspection.

The Sabreliner Maintenance Inspection Program/Computerized Aircraft Maintenance Program (SMIP/CAMP) "Aircraft Status Report" indicated that the airplane's maintenance and inspection program was up to date with no airworthiness issues overdue. A review of the aircraft and engine logbooks revealed no significant maintenance since the last inspection on May 28, 1998.

Meteorological Conditions

At 1554, weather conditions reported at Mid-Continent Airport were VFR. The sky was clear with 10 miles visibility. The temperature was 92 degrees Fahrenheit and the Dew Point was 62 degrees Fahrenheit. The altimeter was 29.98 and the winds were 200 degrees at 8 knots.

Communications

The CVR i...