The pilots of a Gulfstream II on its way to pick up former President George Bush last Nov. 22 may have been following the wrong navigation aid as they descended in IMC toward Hobby Airport in Houston. Cockpit voice recordings released last week reveal an exchange between the pilot Milford Dickson and co-pilot Michael DeSalvo (reportedly with some 19,000 hours of flight time, each) suggest the pair may have been following a VOR signal when they thought they were tuned into Hobby’s ILS. The plane clipped a light pole and crashed in a field near a freeway. Both pilots and flight attendant Kristi Dunn died. The pilots realized something was wrong with their nav gear about two minutes before the crash. They reset the receivers but by then they’d dropped well below the glide slope. After resetting the frequencies, DeSalvo told Dickson:”We’re all squared away now. You got it.” Dickson replies: “Yeah, but I don’t know if I can get back on it in time.” About 30 seconds later, De Salvo says: “K, up, up, up, up, up, up, up.” The tape ends two seconds later.
CVR Offers Details Of Hobby Crash
Key Takeaways:
- A Gulfstream II carrying two pilots and a flight attendant crashed near Hobby Airport, Houston, killing all three on board, likely while attempting to pick up former President George Bush.
- The probable cause of the crash was the pilots mistakenly following a VOR signal instead of the ILS during an Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC) descent.
- Despite both pilots being highly experienced, they realized their navigation error approximately two minutes before the crash and attempted to reset their equipment, but were unable to recover the aircraft's altitude in time.
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