N283SA

HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn October 5, 2021, at 0544 eastern daylight time, a Dassault Falcon 20C airplane, N283SA, was destroyed when it impacted terrain near the Thomson-McDuffie County Airport (HQU), Thomson, Georgia. The captain and first officer were fatally injured. The airplane was operated as Pak West Airlines Flight 887 dba Sierra West Airlines, as an on-demand cargo flight under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 135.

The flight crew initiated the first flight of the night which was about 1 hour in duration at 2132 mountain daylight time from their home base of El Paso International Airport (ELP), El Paso, Texas, to Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport (LBB), Lubbock, Texas. After about a 2 hour and 20-minute delay waiting for the freight on the ground, the accident flight was initiated from LBB to HQU.

Review of air traffic control communications provided by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) revealed that the flight was in contact with Atlanta Air Route Traffic Control Center (ATL Center) for about the final 40 minutes of flight. At 0503 eastern daylight time, Pak West Flight 887 (PKW887) requested information about the NOTAM for the ILS localizer runway 10 instrument approach procedure at HQU. ATL Center informed the flight crew of two NOTAMs; the first pertained to the ILS runway 10 glidepath being unserviceable. When the controller advised the pilot of the glidepath NOTAM, the controller stated that he did not know what “GP” meant, which was the abbreviation for the glideslope/glidepath on the approach.

The second NOTAM applied to the localizer being unserviceable. The controller informed the flight crew that the localizer NOTAM was not in effect until later in the morning after their expected arrival, which was consistent with the published NOTAM.

About 0525, ATL Center asked PKW887 which approach they would like, to which they responded with the “ILS runway one zero approach.” The controller responded, “roger, standby for that.” (Note: the glidepath/glideslope was out of service at the time of the accident). At 0526, ATL Center cleared PKW887 to CEDAR intersection, which was the initial approach fix for the ILS or localizer/non-directional beacon (NDB) runway 10 approach.

About 0537, ATL Center informed PKW887 that they were 15 miles southwest from CEDAR and to “cross CEDAR at or above 3,000 cleared ILS localizer one zero into Thomson McDuffie.” PKW887 read back the clearance and the controller stated it was a “good readback” and to report when established on the “procedure.” About 1 minute later, the controller advised PKW887 of a telephone number to call to cancel their instrument flight rules (IFR) clearance once on the ground; however, about 0543, PKW887 was near CEDAR and requested to cancel their IFR clearance. The controller advised PKW887 to squawk “vfr” and no further communications were received.

Surveillance video located at HQU airport showed that about 0539 the airport and runway lights were activated from off to on. About 0542 the airplane’s landing lights came into view in the pitch-black horizon and were subsequently steadily visible for about 2 minutes. The video showed the airplane approaching runway 10 in a relatively constant descent and heading. About 25 seconds before the airplane’s landing lights disappeared, a momentary right turn, followed by a left turn and increased descent rate was observed. No explosion was observed when the landing lights disappeared about 0544.

About 0518, the CVR revealed that during the enroute descent while the airplane was flying through an area of storms, the captain repeatedly made comments related to the first officer’s performance as the pilot flying. He sternly stated to the first officer to “fly the airplane” multiple times and the captain subsequently stated, “I’ve got the airplane.” About 1 minute later, the captain issued raised-voice instructions to the first officer on appropriate headings to fly. About 0521, the captain read back a heading clearance from ATC, and the captain stated, “you fly the damn airplane.” A few minutes later, the captain made comments consistent with reading portions of the ILS or Localizer Runway 10 approach chart; however, the comments were interrupted when the captain again made more heading instructions to the first officer.

About 0527, as the airplane was approaching an assigned altitude during the descent, the captain exclaimed “altitude” and then shouted, “I’ll get that, you fly the damn airplane. I don’t want you to kill me.”

About 0532, the flight crew was attempting to load and navigate to the CEDAR intersection and the captain said that he would fly the airplane while the first officer loaded the waypoint. About 1 minute later, the captain stated to the first officer “you got the airplane.” For the next 3 minutes the captain made repeated comments on what headings, speed, and altitudes the first officer needed to fly, and instructed him to adjust the trim wheel.

At 0539:28, as the flight was nearing the final approach fix and attempting to activate the pilot-controlled lighting, the captain stated in a frustrated tone, “would you fly the airplane- man-uhh man- I’ve been doing everything else.” A few seconds later, the captain stated, “here it is right over.” The captain subsequently stated, “fly the ILS approach.” The captain also noted that air brakes were stowed, flaps were set to 40°, and the before landing checklist was complete.

At 0541:15, the captain stated, “follow the glideslope without that” and about 30 seconds later stated that the localizer was alive. At 0542:20, the captain stated, “I want you to- I want you to fly the airplane.” A few seconds later, the captain stated that landing flaps were selected, and he reported to ATC that they had joined the localizer, had a “visual” on the runway, and canceled the IFR clearance.

At 0543:22, the captain made repeated comments that they were high and fast and that they needed to lose 20 kts. A few seconds later, the captain stated, “let’s use your air brakes again.” At 0543:51, the captain stated, “you’re way high,” and the first officer responded, “no I’m not.” The captain responded with “look” and “you’re fifteen knots fast we got a short runway.” About 0544, the captain again stated, “use your air brake” and about 4 seconds later, the captain stated, “now you’re low.” About 6 seconds later, the captain stated in an elevated voice, “you got trees.” Power was heard to increase rapidly, the audible electronic pulsating stall warning activated, and at 0544:07, the sound of impact was heard.

An automatic dependent surveillance – broadcast (ADS-B) performance study conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) Vehicle Performance Division found that the airplane crossed CEDAR (the final approach fix) at 2,600 ft mean sea level (msl) and 500 ft to the left of the extended runway centerline. After CEDAR, the flight track continued toward the runway and continued to be about 600 ft above the 3° visual glide path and further deviated to the left of the runway heading until about 3 nautical miles from the threshold, when the descent rate increased. The airplane’s airspeed at that time was about 150 kts. ADS-B coverage ended at 05:43:54, about 3,000 ft short of the first recorded tree strike. The final recorded altitude was 900 ft msl (400 ft above ground level [agl]) and the calculated airspeed was 137 kts. Figures 1 and 2 provide an overview of the flight track data, expected approach path, and summary CVR comments related to the approach.

Figure 1: Altitude compared to 3° visual glide slope, flight path compared to runway heading, and calculated ground and airspeeds for final 6 NM of the approach.

Figure 2: Altitude, calibrated airspeed, and groundspeed with selected end of flight CVR events. “CRT” is “Comment related to –”. Red dotted line shows estimated altitude trend. ADS-B data ended at 05:43:54.

The recorded CVR audio from the cockpit area microphone channel was evaluated in an attempt to determine the engines’ N1 operating speeds during the final approach phase of the accident flight. The sound spectrum study found that for about the last minute of the flight the engine N1 speeds were near flight idle, and further decreased to flight idle for the final 30 seconds before the initial impact with trees. After the initial impact was heard, both N1 speeds were observed to rise rapidly before the recording ended. PERSONNEL INFORMATIONCaptain

According to the operator’s training and employment records, in September 2019 the captain satisfactorily completed indoctrination training and ground training and was subsequently assigned to the DA20 as a pilot in command. The captain completed multiple airman competency/proficiency checks from 2019 through 2021. Each check was ultimately completed satisfactorily; however, multiple line checks required retraining and testing due to unsatisfactory performance of required task items. Some example areas that were required to be retrained and tested were circling approaches and steep turns.

According to the captain’s resumé and records from his former employer Ameristar Jetcharter Inc. (Ameristar), he was employed by the operator as a pilot from June 2017 through August 2019.

On December 22, 2017, an airman competency/proficiency check (14 CFR 135.293 and 135.297 checks) in a DA20 simulator was marked as disapproved. The remarks from the check airman stated in part that during instrument procedures the captain was “cleared for right turn by ATC, mis-set hdg bug resulting in left turn. Distraction resulted in loss of airspeed to full stall condition.” A few days later, the pilot satisfactorily completed the check. He served as SIC through mid-January 2018 and was subsequently upgraded to PIC.

First Officer

According to operator training and employment records, on August 20, 2009, the first officer was hired and assigned to the DA20 as an SIC after sat...