The two pilots of the business jet that crashed at Aspen-Pitkin County Airport in 2014, killing one, appeared to have lost control during an attempted landing in gusty, variable tailwinds as the tower implored the crew to go around. The NTSB’s factual report from the Jan. 5, 2014, crash, released this week, said the Bombardier CL-600-2B16 initially flew a missed approach. When asked for intentions, one of the pilots said, “we turn back and do another approach. We got a tailwind of 30 knots.” Surveillance video shows the jet, with one passenger, was in its second landing attempt when it touched down briefly, bounced and then smashed into the runway, flipping over and catching on fire. The copilot was killed while the pilot and passenger were seriously injured.
The jet, which arrived from Tucson, was cleared to land on Runway 15 for its first attempt as ATC reported winds from 290 degrees at 19 knots, with a one-minute average wind from 320 at 12 knots gusting to 25, according to transcripts.At 12:20 p.m. local time, after the missed approach and two minutes before the crash, the cockpit recorder indicated a strained dialogue between the pilots. There seemed to be concern from at least one about the second approach,with remarks about tailwinds exceeding 30 knots and one pilot saying, “careful, careful” after the ground proximity warning sounded. After the second landing clearance and what appears to be a continued discussion about the approach, the controller transmitted, “go around” four times before one of the pilots said, “let’s go, let’s go,” followed by screams and yells just before impact.
