Five years after the February 2005 Challenger overrun at Teterboro–one of the most notorious accidents in business aviation history–the FAA has again suspended the charter operating certificate of one of the companies peripherally involved, Darby Aviation of Sheffield, Ala.
The accident, in which a Challenger operated by Platinum Jet Management crashed after failure to lift off from Teterboro, set in motion dramatic changes to the charter industry that reverberate today. Executives of Platinum Jet have been indicted and some sent to jail (others began the trial process last month) for fraudulently holding out charter services to the public; at the time of the accident, Platinum Jet claimed to be operating on Darby Aviation’s certificate, but Platinum officials clearly appeared to be controlling every aspect of the doomed flight, which had trouble leaving the ground because aircraft loading placed the center of gravity ahead of the forward cg limit.
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