214 San Diego Learjet Crash – Interview with Rob Mark
Aviation News Talk – Pilot Stories, Safety Tips & General Aviation News
Pilots and the Pilots' Choices
"This was a fairly complicated accident. What's interesting to me is that when they started,. looked like a pretty reasonable plan, but then things deteriorated," he says. "We need to force ourselves to constantly evaluate the options at every stage of the game."
214 San Diego Learjet Crash – Interview with Rob Mark
Your Cirrus Specialist. Call me if you're thinking of buying a new Cirrus SR20 or SR22. Call 1-650-967-2500 for Cirrus purchase and training assistance, or to take my online seminar: So You Want to Fly or Buy a Cirrus.
Please help support the show with a donation via PayPal or Patreon.
Send us an email
If you have a question you'd like answered on the show, let listeners hear you ask the question, by recording your listener question using your phone.
Summary 214 Max talks with Rob Mark about the San Diego Learjet Crash in El Cajon, and early clues that this landing wouldn't succeed. The air ambulance flight crashed in poor weather, after canceling IFR, as required at night to land on a longer runway. A poorly flown traffic pattern at low altitude sealed their fate. Max and Rob asked pilots to think about when they would have diverted, if they were flying. N880Z, a Learjet 35A, crashed while landing at night at Gillespie Field in El Cajon, north of San Diego. The crash was where the base intersects the final, which is a classic location for stall/spin accidents. The aircraft flew a traffic pattern that was lower and farther east than usual, and they were headed straight for Rattlesnake Mountain, which was a couple hundred feet higher than the aircraft. The aircraft crashed about 0.1 miles from the base of the mountain on Pepper Drive. There were no survivors.
The air ambulance flight originated from John Wayne Airport, which was a short, 18-minute flight to Gillespie. The weather at the time was at VFR minimums and IFR minimums for circling. The weather was 3 mile visibility with mist and a broken layer of clouds at 2,000 feet and an overcast layer at 2,600 feet. The two-pilot crew flew the RNAV (GPS) 17 approach, which has LP minimums of 1,360 feet, for a straight in landing to runway 17. However runway 17 is more than a 1,000 feet shorter than runway 27R, and when the aircraft was approximately 3 miles north of the airport, they cancelled IFR and requested to land on runway 27R. Circling to runway 27R is not permitted at night when flying IFR, which is why the crew cancelled IFR, so that there were legally permitted to land on 27R.
The aircraft crossed overhead the airport very low at 725 feet, less than 350 feet above the field elevation of 388 feet. The aircraft then climbed to 950 feet in a left traffic pattern to 27R. The aircraft flew a traffic pattern that was farther north and east than their prior circles to runway 27R. This resulted in them flying directly toward Rattlesnake Mountain.
Mentioned in the Show Rob Mark's JetWhine.com blog Ep. 199 - IFR Circling Approach Hazards & Tips for Flying Them ICAO: Circling 25 times more risky that straight-in with glideslope Ep. 114 - Get-There-itis Accidents, Red Flags, and Tips for Avoiding Them PAVE Personal minimums checklistFAA's Personal and Weather Risk Assessment Guide Max's Books - Order online or call 800-247-6553 to order. Max Trescott's G3000 and G5000 Glass Cockpit HandbookMax Trescott's G1000 & Perspective Glass Cockpit Handbook Max Trescott's GPS and WAAS Instrument Flying Handbook If you love the show and want more, visit my Patreon page to see fun videos, breaking news, and other posts in the Posts section. And if you decide to make a small donation each month, you can get some goodies!
So You Want To Learn to Fly or Buy a Cirrus seminars Online Version of the Seminar Coming Soon - Register for Notification
Check out our recommended ADS-B receivers, and order one for yourself. Yes, we'll make a couple of dollars if you do.
Check out our recommended Aviation Headsets, and order one for yourself!
Get the Free Aviation News Talk app for iOS or Android.
Check out Max's Online Courses: G1000 VFR, G1000 IFR, and Flying WAAS & GPS Approaches. Find them all at: https://www.pilotlearning.com/
Social Media Like Aviation News Talk podcast on Facebook Follow Max on Instagram Follow Max on Twitter Listen to all Aviation News Talk podcasts on YouTube or YouTube Premium
Max Trescott is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
The AI-powered Podcast Player
