N526FC

On July 20, 2024, about 1339 mountain daylight time, a Hawker Beechcraft Corporation Hawker 900XP airplane, N526FC, sustained substantial damage when it was involved in an accident near Telluride, Colorado. The pilot and copilot were uninjured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 positioning flight.

The on-demand air carrier passenger flight had landed earlier in the day to runway 9 at the Telluride Regional Airport (TEX), Telluride, Colorado, before returning as a positioning flight without passengers to the Miami Executive Airport (TMB), Miami, Florida. The pilot, who holds an airline transport pilot certificate, was seated in the front left seat. The copilot, who holds a commercial pilot certificate, was seated in the front right seat.

The pilot reported the planned runway for the positioning flight was runway 27 (a 7,111 ft length with a 111 ft width). The airport’s automatic terminal information system information was entered into the airplane’s flight management system. Performance calculations performed by the pilot showed that a takeoff roll between 6,800 ft to 6,900 ft would be needed with wing flaps set to 15°. At the time of departure, there were about 1,253 gallons of Jet A fuel onboard the airplane.

During the departure takeoff roll on the dry asphalt, the airplane did not attain 75% of the planned takeoff speed about halfway down the runway, so the pilot decided to abort the takeoff. The brakes, air brakes, and the thrust reversers were utilized to slow the airplane, however the airplane did not slow down. Maximum braking was then applied, and the airplane began to depart the runway to the right. The airplane traveled over the engineered material arresting system (EMAS) and came to rest upright. The airplane stopped about 150 ft from the runway threshold. The EMAS, which has a length of 292 ft and a width of 122 ft, sustained damage from the runway excursion.

After the airplane came to rest partially on the EMAS and partially on a grass field, the pilot attempted to stop the two turbofan engines by closing the high pressure and low pressure controls for fuel flow, however the engines continued to operate. TEX personnel disconnected the airplane batteries to stop the engines, without success. The engines finally ceased operation when manual control of the fuel control unit was utilized by the pilot. The pilot and copilot egressed from the main cabin door, located on the front left side of the fuselage, without incident. After exiting the airplane, the pilot saw the wing flaps were fully retracted and not extended to 15°.

The airplane sustained substantial damage to the lower fuselage. The airplane was recovered from the accident site, and it was transported to a secure location for a future examination. The airplane was equipped with two Honeywell TFE731-50R turbofan engines. The two turbofan engines were each equipped with Honeywell Digital Electronic Engine Control units. The airframe was equipped with a cockpit voice recorder.

A search revealed no Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast data for the departure from runway 27.

The airport is located at 9,069 ft above mean sea level in mountainous terrain, in the San Juan Mountains. At the time of the accident, the estimated density altitude for the closest meteorological reporting station (located at TEX) was 11,081 ft above mean sea level. A review of video footage from an Automated Weather Observing System camera (located on TEX, just to the north of the sole runway) facing to the east, showed an extended windsock with an easterly wind, during the takeoff and subsequent aborted takeoff.

The airport, which is located on a 1,000 ft mesa with rising terrain on all quadrants, had the following operational restrictions in place at the time of the accident:

RY 09/27 RCMD TKOF RY 27; LAND RY 09 AND AVOID POPULATED AREAS. RY 09/27 GRADE -.08 ON RY ENDS, -1.3 TO APPROX MIDPOINT THEN +.75.