N303GA

The Board's full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/Publictn/publictn.htm .

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

On March 29, 2001, about 1901:57 mountain standard time, a Gulfstream III, N303GA, owned by Airbourne Charter, Inc., and operated by Avjet Corporation of Burbank, California, crashed while on final approach to runway 15 at Aspen-Pitkin County Airport (ASE), Aspen, Colorado. The charter flight had departed Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) about 1711 with 2 pilots, 1 flight attendant, and 15 passengers. The airplane crashed into sloping terrain about 2,400 feet short of the runway threshold. All of the passengers and crewmembers were killed, and the airplane was destroyed. The flight was being operated on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan under 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 135.

The captain and first officer for the charter flight reported to the Avjet facility at the Burbank-Glendale Pasadena Airport (BUR), Burbank, California, sometime before 1300 (1200 Pacific standard time) on the day of the accident. An Avjet captain stated, in a postaccident interview, that he saw the captain checking the ASE weather on a computer display and discussing the ASE weather with an Avjet charter department scheduler while at BUR. Another Avjet captain stated, in a postaccident interview, that he saw the first officer performing what appeared to be a routine airplane preflight inspection on N303GA on the ramp at BUR.

About 1200 (1100 Pacific standard time), the first officer contacted the Hawthorne, California, Automated Flight Service Station (AFSS) specialist for a weather briefing. A review of the audiotape indicated that the specialist informed the first officer of three National Weather Service (NWS) AIRMETs [Airman's Meteorological Information] pertinent to the flight to ASE, an 1141 weather observation for ASE, and the ASE forecast for 1300 to 1900. The specialist also informed the first officer that the approach procedure had been updated and that circling minimums were no longer authorized at night. During the briefing, the first officer filed the flight plan, identifying Garfield County Regional Airport in Rifle, Colorado, as the alternate airport.

The captain and first officer departed BUR at 1538 (1438 Pacific standard time) for a positioning flight to LAX, arriving there 11 minutes later. While at LAX, the captain and a charter department scheduler discussed the status of the passengers' arrivals (none were at the airport when the airplane arrived) and the weather currently being forecast for the flight's arrival time at ASE. Also, the captain and another Avjet captain discussed the nighttime landing restriction at ASE that required the airplane to land within 30 minutes after sunset. ASE's nighttime airport operating hours, according to an airport chart dated November 1, 1994, indicated that aircraft that did not meet FAA stage III noise criteria were not authorized to land at the airport on March 29 after 1858.

The airplane's departure from LAX at 1711 (1611 Pacific standard time) was 41 minutes later than originally scheduled because of the late arrival of the passengers, including the charter customer. The flight was planned for 1 hour 35 minutes, so the estimated arrival time at ASE was 1846-12 minutes before the airport's nighttime landing curfew.

Statements early in the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) recording indicated that the flight crew was aware of the nighttime landing restriction at ASE. The CVR transcript indicated that, about 1831:06, the captain stated, "well, there's the edge of night right here." About 1831:24, the first officer asked the captain about the time of official sunset for ASE. The captain replied "six twenty eight" and then stated, "so we get thirty minutes after sunset. so six fifty eight...about...seven o'clock."

About 1837:04, the first officer called for the approach briefing. The captain then stated, "we're...probably gonna make it a visual...if we don't get the airport over here we'll go ahead and shoot that approach" and "we're not going to have a bunch of extra gas so we only get to shoot it once and then we're going to Rifle." The first officer acknowledged this information. About 1839:56, the flight crew began to receive automated terminal information service (ATIS) information Hotel. Afterward, the first officer read back the wind, visibility, sky condition, and temperature information, and the captain acknowledged this information.

About 1844:22, the first officer made initial contact with ASE approach control. About 1844:43, the flight crew heard, over the ASE approach control frequency, the request of a Canadair Challenger 600 airplane, N527JA, for another approach to ASE. The approach controller then cleared N527JA to continue on the published missed approach procedure. About 1845:00, the first officer stated, "I hope he's doing practice approaches." About 3 seconds later, the captain asked the controller whether the pilot of N527JA was practicing or had actually missed the approach. The controller replied that the pilot had missed the approach and indicated that he had seen the airplane at 10,400 feet. The controller also informed the captain that two other airplanes were on approach to ASE. About 1845:32, the controller instructed the flight crew to turn to a 360º heading for vectors for the approach sequence.

While the airplane was descending into the terminal area, the CVR recorded the flight crew discussing the location of a highway near the airport. About 1845:45, the captain stated, "where's that...highway? can we get down in there?" About 11 seconds later, the captain stated, "can you see?" and the first officer stated, "I'm looking I'm looking...no." About 1846:26, the captain indicated, "I got it," and, about 2 seconds later, he asked the first officer, "can't really see up there can ya?" The first officer replied, over the next several seconds, "nope not really" and "I see a river but I don't see nothing else." About 1847:19, the first officer stated, "I see...some towns over here and the highway's leading that way but I'm not sure."

About 1847:30, the approach controller made a blanket broadcast that the pilot of an airplane (a Cessna Citation, N900MF) saw the airport at 10,400 feet and was making a straight-in approach, to which the first officer stated, "ah, that's good." (This airplane landed without incident at the airport about 10 minutes before the accident.) About 1847:41, the captain informed the controller that, "I can almost see up the canyon from here but I don't know the terrain well enough or I'd take the visual." About 1847:51, the first officer stated, "could do a contact but...I don't know," followed by his statement, "probably we could not...." The first officer also stated, about 1848:04, "remember that crazy guy in this Lear[jet] when we were...on the ground in Aspen last time and he [stated that he could] see the airport but he couldn't see it." The captain did not respond to either of the first officer's statements.

About 1848:51, the captain stated, "there's the highway right there." The first officer then asked the captain if he wanted to be set up on the approach, and the captain indicated that he was ready. About 1849:28, the captain asked the first officer whether he could see the highway, to which the first officer replied, "no it's clouds over here on this area I don't see it." About 1850:42, the captain stated, "but it's right there." About 6 seconds later, he stated, "oh I mean we'll shoot it from here I mean we're here but we only get to do it once." About 1850:54, the captain indicated to the flight attendant that, if the attempt to execute the approach was not successful, they would have to go to Rifle because "it's too late in the evening then to come around."

About 1851:54, the approach controller instructed the flight crew to turn to a heading of 050º. About 1853:09, the approach controller instructed the flight crew to turn to a heading of 140º to intercept the final approach course and maintain an altitude of 16,000 feet. Afterward, the controller made a blanket broadcast that the last airplane (a Canadair Challenger 600, N898R) had missed the approach, to which the first officer remarked, "that's...not...good."

About 1853:57, the flight attendant asked whether a male passenger could sit on the jumpseat in the cockpit. About 11 seconds later, the flight attendant instructed that passenger to make sure his seatbelt was on, and the CVR recorded a sound consistent with a seatbelt buckle. About 1855:05, the flight crew heard, over the approach control frequency, the pilot of N898R transmit his intention to execute a missed approach. Afterward, the captain stated, "the weather's gone down they're not making it in," and an unidentified male voice in the cockpit stated, "oh really." The approach controller subsequently cleared N898R to continue on the missed approach procedure.

About 1856:06, the approach controller cleared the flight crew for the VOR/DME-C approach, advised the crew that the airplane was 5 miles from the Red Table VOR (the initial approach fix), and instructed the crew to cross the VOR at or above an altitude of 14,000 feet. The first officer acknowledged this information.

About 1856:23, the first officer said, "after VOR you are cleared to twelve thousand seven hundred." About 1856:42, the approach controller made a blanket broadcast that ATIS information India was current and that the visibility north of the airport was 2 miles. The approach controller then instructed the flight crew to contact ASE local control, and the crew established contact with the local controller about 1857:28. The local controller informed the flight crewmembers that they were following a Challenger airplane (N527JA) that was 2 miles from the runway, reported the wind at 240º at 5 knots, and cleared the airplane to land on runway 15. About 1857:55, the first officer ...