In one of its longest investigations into a general aviation accident, the NTSB released its final report last month on the Oct. 10, 2000, crash of a Canadian-registered Bombardier Challenger 604 during a manufacturer’s test flight at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport. The two pilots and flight engineer died as a result of injuries sustained from the accident. News of the accident traveled fast throughout the industry because it occurred while nearly 30,000 business aviation people were gathered in New Orleans to attend the annual NBAA Convention.
The Safety Board determined that the probable cause of this accident was the pilot’s “excessive” rotation during an aft center-of-gravity takeoff, exacerbating a rearward migration of fuel during acceleration and takeoff that shifted the airplane’s c.g. beyond the aft limit, which caused the airplane to stall too close to the ground for a recovery.