Minnesota Charter Flight Illustrates Dangers of Flying in Severe Weather: Both Pilots, Six Passengers Perish Following Crash Landing South of Twin Cities
The July 31 crash of a Hawker 800 business jet in southern Minnesota, which tragically claimed the lives of two pilots and all six passengers aboard the chartered flight, serves as yet another reminder of the dangers of flying near thunderstorms and high winds.
In fact, the dangers of flying near thunderstorms is well known to pilots and has been discussed by the FAA in Advisory Circular 00-24B, said Ladd Sanger, an aviation attorney with Slack & Davis.
News outlets reported wind speeds up to 80 mph earlier Thursday morning, and the National Weather Service reported a 72 mph wind gust in Owatonna, MN less than an hour before the crash.
While an investigation into the cause of the fatal crash is still underway, it appears likely the decision to attempt to land the Hawker on runway 30, with a length of 5,500 feet and a tailwind, while operating under FAR Part 135, will be closely examined as a contributing factor.
“As we have seen from crashes in the past, it truly is a recipe for disaster to attempt to land amid thunderstorms with gusting and variable high winds,” Sanger said.
“Regrettably, some pilots try to out run a storm or land between thunderstorms,” he added.
When convective activity is present – a sudden surge in headwinds followed by a strong gust in tailwind, or vice versa – it results in wind shear that can make it difficult, if not impossible, to keep the plane airborne, Sanger said.
Such conditions are particularly dangerous during take-off or landing, when planes do not have sufficient air speed to overcome sudden and dramatic changes in wind speed and direction.
Slack & Davis has handled numerous cases involving airplane crashes that occurred during dangerous weather conditions such as high crosswinds, wind shears and severe thunderstorms. These cases have involved commercial crashes such as American Airlines flight 1420 and Delta Airlines flight 191, as well as general aviation accidents that have included business jets like the Hawker that crashed Thursday in Owatonna.
• Ladd Sanger and Mike Slack handled more than 20 cases from the American Airlines flight 1420 crash that landed amid thunderstorms and high winds at Little Rock National Airport in June 1999, killing the captain and 10 passengers, and injuring more than 100 others.
• Mike Davis and Tom Davis successfully handled a case involving the crash of a Hawker charter flight that killed the road manager and seven members of country singer Reba McEntire’s band in March 1991.
• Mike Slack represented victims of Delta Airlines flight 191 that killed 135 people after flying through thunderstorms and encountering a severe wind shear at Dallas-Fort Worth airport in August 1985.
In the aftermath of the Delta 191 crash, the FAA issued a series of new safety requirements for pilots flying in severe weather conditions. FAA Advisory Circular 00-24B specifically directs pilots to refrain from flying within 20 miles of thunderstorms, Sanger noted.
“In the Owatonna crash, it’s clear this plane flew through some very severe thunderstorms as it approached the airport for landing,” he said.
During the approach phase, it’s likely the aircraft encountered turbulence and shifting winds.
“From what we’ve seen so far, it appears the pilots landed long and with a tailwind that caused them to attempt a go-around, which was unsuccessful,” Sanger noted.
Many airports, including the Owatonna Degner Regional Airport, have installed Automated Weather Observation Systems (AWOS) that provide pilots with a looped broadcast of local conditions on a local radio frequency. The broadcasts, which can be updated every minute or so, include information on wind direction and velocity, visibility, ceilings, temperature/dewpoint spread and barometric pressure.
The Owatonna AWOS also gives "density altitude," which refers to the reduced density of the air for above-standard temperatures. Many airports also are required to have wind shear protection equipment, but not all automated systems provide wind shear data, because they require multiple wind data reporting sites at the airport, Sanger noted.
Most air crashes occur in general aviation flights, such as privately owned and operated aircraft. Crashes result from a wide range of causes, Sanger added, including pilot negligence, poorly designed aircraft, defective parts or faulty maintenance.
top