FlarePath
Cases › CHI01MA006 · Major investigation · Class 1

Canadair CL600-2B16

Wichita, KS, USA · 2000-10-10·CFTBZ

2
fatal
1
serious
Fatal
highest injury
Destroyed
damage
Read the cockpit voice recorder480 lines14:19:00 – 14:50:00.79AnalyseThe analystOne timeline · precedents · ask the docket · what the record saysGenerateInvestigation briefFacts, cause, recorder extremes, sequence, sourcesSourceNTSB docket69 documents on data.ntsb.gov

What happened

NTSB summary, verbatim

The Board's full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/2004/AAB0401.pdf On October 10, 2000, at 1452 central daylight time, a Canadair Challenger CL-600-2B16 (CL-604) (Canadian registration C-FTBZ and operated by Bombardier Incorporated) was destroyed on impact with terrain and postimpact fire during initial climb from runway 19R at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport (ICT), Wichita, Kansas. The flight was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 as an experimental test flight. The pilot and flight test engineer were killed. The copilot was seriously injured and died 36 days later.

Photographs

25the aircraft, and what the investigators found
Wreckage and site documentation · 25 photographs from the docket

Photographs are NTSB docket attachments — works of the US government, in the public domain. Captions are the Board’s own.

Probable cause

the Board's determination
the pilot’s excessive takeoff rotation, during an aft center of gravity (c.g.) takeoff, a rearward migration of fuel during acceleration and takeoff and consequent shift in the airplane’s aft c.g. to aft of the aft c.g. limit, which caused the airplane to stall at an altitude too low for recovery. Contributing to the accident were Bombardier’s inadequate flight planning procedures for the Challenger flight test program and the lack of direct, on-site operational oversight by Transport Canada and the Federal Aviation Administration.

NTSB analysis

from the final report

The Board's full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/2004/AAB0401.pdf On October 10, 2000, at 1452 central daylight time, a Canadair Challenger CL-600-2B16 (CL-604) (Canadian registration C-FTBZ and operated by Bombardier Incorporated) was destroyed on impact with terrain and postimpact fire during initial climb from runway 19R at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport (ICT), Wichita, Kansas. The flight was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 as an experimental test flight. The pilot and flight test engineer were killed. The copilot was seriously injured and died 36 days later.