Contributor - Safety

David Jack Kenny

<h2>Preliminary Reports</h2>
<h3>Six Hurt in Skydiving Accident</h3>
De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, June 8, 2025, Tullahoma, Tennessee
The pilot and five of 20 skydivers were seriously injured when their jump plane struck two trees during an emergency landing following a loss of power in the left engine. The remaining 15 passengers were unhurt.
The flight, the pilot’s fourth of the day, took off normally from Runway 24 at Tullahoma Regional Airport (KTHA). After climbing to 500 feet, the pilot noticed asymmetric thrust while syncing the propellers. Airspeed decreased after he lowered the nose, so he turned back in attempt to land on Runway 36.
Despite initiating “engine-out procedures” including flap extension and maintaining airspeed above the single-engine controllable minimum, the airplane continued to descend. Unable to reach the runway, the pilot set it down in a field but was unable to avoid the trees. The left wing, left engine, and empennage separated from the airframe, but the fuselage came to rest upright and there was no post-crash fire.
<h3>No Survivors in Ohio Departure Crash</h3>
Cessna 441, June 29, 2025, Warren, Ohio
The airline transport pilot and all five passengers were killed when the airplane struck trees just after taking off from Runway 32 of Youngstown/Warren Regional Airport (KYNG). ADS-B data indicated that it never climbed above about 100 feet after lifting off.
Security camera footage showed that the Conquest rotated 4,400 to 4,500 feet down the 9,003-foot runway, climbed 100 feet above the ground, and leveled off, continuing on runway heading. A camera at a farm 0.4 nm to the east captured seven seconds of the airplane flying straight and level before passing out of sight behind trees.
Witnesses reported hearing “a noticeable pitch change in the engine sound” followed by trees breaking and an explosion. The wreckage was found in a heavily wooded area. The aircraft came to rest inverted with most of the left wing separated. The cockpit, cabin, and both wings were heavily damaged by the post-impact fire.
<h3>Medical Crew Lost Outside London</h3>
Beechcraft B200, July 13, 2025, Southend Airport, London, UK
All four crew members perished when the medical evacuation King Air crashed just outside the field during an attempted departure from Southend Airport (EGMC). The crew was returning to the company’s base at Lelystad Airport in the Netherlands after transporting a patient from Athens to London with a stop in Pula, Croatia. Witnesses reported that the aircraft veered left and descended just after breaking ground. Press reports identified the victims as the captain and first officer, a doctor, and a flight nurse on her first day on the job.
<h2>Final Reports</h2>
<h3>Autopilot Disconnect Led to Upset, Cabin Injury on Challenger 300</h3>
Bombardier Challenger 300, July 27, 2022, San Francisco, California
An abrupt autopilot disconnect during climb led to an in-flight upset and serious injury to a cabin attendant aboard a Bombardier Challenger 300 near San Francisco, according to the NTSB’s final report. The aircraft was operating on a Part 91 positioning flight from San Francisco International Airport (KSFO) to Page, Arizona (KPGA), with two pilots and one cabin attendant on board. The aircraft departed KSFO at 12:30 with the autopilot engaged during initial climb. As it passed through 20,000 feet, two caution messages appeared on the crew alerting system: “AP STAB TRIM FAIL” and “AP HOLDING NOSE DOWN.” The pilot-in-command reported taking control from the second-in-command, and shortly thereafter, the autopilot disconnected—either on its own or coinciding with the PIC’s attempt to disengage it manually. The aircraft pitched up rapidly.
Flight data recorder information showed vertical acceleration spiked from 0.985 g to 2.221 g in under a second, then dropped to -0.426 g before oscillating between 2.096 g and 0.176 g. During this sequence, the cabin attendant—who had been unbelted—was thrown and sustained serious injuries. The crew recovered control and returned to KSFO, landing without further incident at 13:02.
The Challenger’s cockpit voice recorder did not capture the event due to its continuous loop recording. As a result, the NTSB could not confirm whether the crew had followed the checklist procedures associated with the caution messages. These procedures advise firm control input and turning on the seatbelt sign, as well as warning of potential abrupt changes in control forces upon autopilot disconnect. Company policy allowed cabin attendants to be up and moving above 10,000 feet.
Post-accident examination of the autopilot and flight control systems revealed no mechanical faults. All components passed functional testing, and no system faults were logged that would have triggered an automatic disconnect. The NTSB concluded that the autopilot was most likely disengaged due to inadvertent pilot input, but the precise cause could not be determined.
<h2>Incorrect Checklist, Improper Configuration Led to Falcon 10 Overrun</h2>
Dassault Falcon 10, June 6, 2023, Panama City, Florida
The crew of a Dassault Falcon 10 failed to configure the aircraft’s thrust reversers correctly for landing, in part due to use of an inappropriate checklist, resulting in a runway overrun at Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport (KECP), according to the NTSB’s final report.
None of the five occupants were injured, but the aircraft was substantially damaged after striking runway light poles and collapsing its landing gear in sand.
The jet had departed Atlanta Cobb County International Airport-McCollum Field (KRYY) under Part 91 and was conducting an ILS approach to Runway 16 at KECP in night VMC. All systems were reported normal during taxi, takeoff, and cruise. Landing gear and flaps extended as expected, and hydraulic indications were nominal.
The aircraft touched down approximately 2,500 feet from the threshold on the 10,000-foot runway. After deploying the airbrakes, the pilot flying attempted to engage the thrust reversers using reverse idle, but they failed to deploy. A warning horn sounded, and the captain called “no brakes” after applying normal braking with no response. The copilot’s braking attempts were also ineffective, and neither normal nor emergency braking slowed the aircraft.
Because the reverser levers remained in the deployed position, the throttles could not be moved to shut down the engines. The airplane overran the runway and struck several approach light poles. A small fire on the left wing was extinguished using the cockpit fire extinguisher.
The pilot stated he did not direct the copilot to pull the fire handles to shut down the engines, as he was focused on avoiding obstacles. He used the rudder to steer the airplane between two approach light structures, but the wings struck both, causing damage back to the engine inlets.
After the accident, the captain discovered the thrust reverser emergency stow switches were still in the stow position—a nonstandard configuration that should have been reset after preflight. The aircraft’s supplemental procedures specify that reversers will not deploy and a warning horn will sound if those switches remain stowed.
The Falcon 10 had been modified with thrust reversers via supplemental type certificate, but the checklist found in the cockpit was marked “For Training Purposes Only” and designed for a model without thrust reversers. The NTSB cited the inappropriate checklist as a contributing factor.
A cockpit voice recorder was recovered but provided no usable data. The recording tape, which had to be physically repaired, contained audio dating to 2017 or earlier from a prior registration.
<h2>Citation Destroyed in Below-minimums Approach</h2>
Cessna 550, July 8, 2023, Murrieta, California
Both pilots and all four passengers were killed when the twin-engine jet crashed short of the threshold during a second RNAV approach to Runway 18 of French Valley Airport (F70). During the Part 91 night flight from Las Vegas, weather at F70 changed from clear skies with 10 miles visibility to ¾ mile visibility under a 300-foot overcast.
After canceling IFR during their descent from cruising altitude, the crew requested and received a pop-up IFR clearance for the approach.
The jet was fast on the first attempt, and after briefly leveling at decision height, the pilots performed a missed approach and requested a second attempt. Reported visibility had decreased to ½ mile in fog; the minimum visibility required for the approach was 7/8 mile. ADS-B data showed that the Citation’s rate of descent on the final approach segment was 762 fpm. It again leveled off and began a slight climb before descending at 2,320 fpm during the last three seconds of data, hitting sagebrush-covered terrain about 810 feet short of the threshold on the extended centerline. A post-crash fire consumed most of the fuselage.
<h2>Cardiac Arrest Necessitated Nonpilot’s Emergency Landing</h2>
Piper PA-46-500TP, July 15, 2023, Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts
The 79-year-old private pilot lost consciousness during a go-around from an approach to Runway 06 at Martha’s Vineyard Airport (KMVY). The nonpilot passenger took the controls and successfully landed the airplane gear-up on airport grounds, where it “bounced several times after touchdown, then came to rest with the left wing fractured.” The passenger suffered minor injuries. First responders found the pilot in cardiac arrest. Their efforts succeeded in restoring his pulse, but he died in the hospital five days later from what an autopsy determined to be “hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.”
The pilot had been treated for high blood pressure since 1970, had previously suffered at least one heart attack, and had undergone coronary artery bypass grafts in 1981 and 1996. Since 2019 he had used blood thinners to treat atrial fibrillation. Between 2006 and 2022 he had received a series of third-class medical certificates under authorizations of special issuance.
His June 1, 2023 medical application did not list his history of coronary artery disease, heart attack, or bypass grafts, but one week later the FAA did receive the documentation required to review his special issuance. These included letters from his cardiologist and primary care physician describing him “as being in stable, outstanding health, with above-average exercise capacity, great compliance with medications and monitoring, and an excellent prognosis.”&nbsp;

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