A business jet passenger died after the plane violently surged up and down as the pilots responded to automated cockpit warnings, which turned off the aircraft’s stabilizing system.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which investigated the fatal March 3 incident, stated that it did not reach any conclusions on the main cause of the fatal incident, but it did provide a list of things that went wrong before the plane went out of control.
Several automated alerts were displayed in the cockpit of the Bombardier Challenger 300 twin-engine’s pilots. According to the NTSB’s preliminary report, the pilots followed a checklist and eventually turned off a switch that adjusts the stabilizing system on the aircraft’s tail.
That’s when things started to go wrong. Before the pilots regained control, the plane’s nose swept up, subjecting the passengers and crew to about four times the normal force of gravity, then pointed downward before turning upward again.
According to the NTSB’s initial assessment of the incident the next day, pilots told investigators there was no turbulence at the time of the incident.
The Federal Aviation Administration mandated last year that all pilots flying the Bombardier Challenger 300 perform additional safety checks on its trim system before taking off.
Bombardier stated that they were carefully reviewing the report and that they would continue to support and assist authorities as needed.
Three passengers and two pilots were traveling on the aircraft from Keene, New Hampshire to Leesburg, Virginia.
Dana Hyde, 55, a former White House official, and her husband and son were among the three passengers. The pilot and co-pilot were the only members of the crew.
Dana Hyde was taken to the hospital and died as a result of blunt force injuries. It is unknown whether she wore her seatbelt during the incident. Her husband, son, pilot, and co-pilot were all unharmed.
Despite the fact that both the pilot and co-pilot had over 13,000 hours of flight time between them, they were new to the Bombardier Challenger 300.
