Learjet 35A | N81VN

The DTSB determines the Probable Cause of this accident to be Pilot Error, in that the pilot flew a non stabilized visual approach to runway 21, varying both speed and rate of descent on final. This set up the PIO for a very hard landing which followed. According to eye witness accounts, the aircraft first impacted in a nose high very hard landing, whereupon it bounced back up into the air. When it touched down the second time the left main landing gear gave way at the upper attach point, causing the left wing to fall down, and pull the aircraft to the left. The aircraft was not equipped with thrust reversers and max braking from the remaining right wheel brake system was not sufficient to stop the aircraft before it collided with another parked aircraft. Early reports indicate that this same aircraft had recently experienced a hard landing and damage to the same component. A photo of the aircraft shows that the left main landing gear is out of place as compared to the right, which likely completely failed during the hard landing. The left seat pilot was killed on impact, the right seat pilot was pinned in the wreckage and was unable to stop the engine from running after the impact.

The DTSB recommends that all pilots of all aircraft rehearse and condition themselves to be able to fly a precise visual stabilized approach to the white boxes and be ready and able to perform a safe go around very early when the approach is not fully stabilized below 500 AGL. This pilot was not killed by the crash. He was killed by the non stabilized approach which was the start of the fatal sequence.