A Hawker 800 jet that crashed in Minnesota last Thursday, killing all eight on board, had already touched down but then ran about 1,000 feet beyond the end of the runway into a grass field where a wing hit an ILS antenna, the NTSB said late last week. “The antenna stands about 8 feet high and straddles the width of the runway,” said Steven Chealander, of the NTSB. He added that according to witnesses at the scene, after touching down, the engines powered up and it appeared that the crew was trying to take off again, but the jet never became airborne. When the wing hit, the airplane rolled over and broke apart, coming to rest in a cornfield. The airplane, operated by East Coast Jets, crashed about 10 a.m. last Thursday at Owatonna Degneer Regional Airport in Minnesota during a light rain. “We are looking at everything,” Chealander said. “There is no single focus at this point. It is a multiple-focus accident investigation.” Former NTSB chairman Jim Hall said the FAA should require flight data recorders or cockpit video recorders in corporate and charter aircraft to aid in accident investigations.
“We see this time and time again — an accident occurs with air taxis or corporate airplanes, and recorders were not required to be installed, forcing NTSB accident investigators into a search for other data, such as radar tapes from air traffic control, to infer what happened,” Hall said. “A supposition, however well educated, is simply not good enough.” The Hawker did have a cockpit voice recorder on board. The single runway at the airport is 5,500 feet long.
