Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Kansas City, Missouri 64106
Friday, January 28, 2005 22:17 CST

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

The Learjet 35A received substantial damage on impact with airport property and terrain during a landing overrun on runway 19 (7,002 feet by 150 feet, grooved asphalt) at Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport (MKC), Kansas City, Missouri. The airplane was operated by a commercial operator as a positioning flight to Kansas City International Airport (MCI), Kansas City, Missouri, with a filed alternate destination of Lincoln Airport (LNK), Lincoln, Nebraska. Night instrument meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. LNK was a certificated airport with a snow removal plan and was served by runway 17R (12,901 feet by 200 feet, grooved asphalt and concrete). The flight was en route to MCI to pick up passengers and continue on as an on-demand charter but diverted to MKC following the closure of MCI. MCI was closed due to a McDonnell Douglas MD83 sliding off a taxiway during an after landing taxi on contaminated runway/taxiway conditions. MKC held a limited airport certificate that did not have a snow removal plan and was served by runway 19. Following a precision approach and landing on runway 19 at MKC, the Learjet 35A slid off the departure end of the runway and impacted airport property and terrain. The Learjet 35A was operated with inoperative thrust reversers as per the airplane's minimum equipment list at the time of the accident. About 1:05 hours before the accident, runway 19 Tapley values were recorded as 21-22-22 with 1/2 inch of wet snow. About 17 minutes before the accident, MKC began snow removal operations. About 7 minutes before the accident, the MKC air traffic control tower (TWR) instructed the snow removal vehicles to clear the runway for inbound traffic. TWR was advised by airport personnel that runway 19 was plowed and surface conditions were 1/4 inch of snow of snow; friction values were not taken or reported. While inbound, the Learjet 35A requested any braking action reports from TWR. The first airplane to land was a Cessna 210 Centurion, and the pilot reported braking action to the TWR as "moderate", which was then transmitted by TWR as "fair" from a Centurion in response to the Learjet 35A's query. The Cessna 210 Centurion pilot did not use brakes during landing and did not indicate this to TWR during his braking action report. The Aeronautical Information Manual states that no correlation has been established between MU values and the descriptive terms "good," fair," and "nil" used in braking action reports. The Airport Winter Safety and Operations advisory circular (AC) states that "pilot braking action reports oftentimes have been found to vary significantly, even when reported on the same frozen contaminant surface conditions." The AC also states, "It is generally accepted that friction surveys will be reliable as long as the depth of snow does not exceed 1 inch (2.5 cm) and/or depth of wet snow/slush does not exceed 1/8 inch (3mm). The Learjet 35A flightcrew calculated a landing distance 5,400 feet. Two of the cockpit voice recording channels, which normally contain the pilot and copilot audio panel information, were blank.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The contaminated runway conditions during landing. Contributing factors were the operation of the airplane without thrust reversers, flight to the planned alternate airport not performed by the flightcrew, and the insufficient runway information. Additional factors were the airport property and terrain that the airplane impacted.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 1/28/2005
Event Day of the Week Friday
Time of Event 2217
Event Time Zone Central Standard Time
Event City Kansas City
Event State MISSOURI
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 64106
Event Date Year 2005
Event Date Month 1
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 390723N
Event Location Longitude 0943534W
Event Location Airport Charles B. Wheeler Downtown
Event Location Nearest Airport ID MKC
Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport On Airport
Distance from airport in statute miles --
Degrees magnetic from airport --
Airport Elevation --
Weather Briefing Completeness --
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 2218 Central Standard Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) --
Weather Observation Facility ID MKC
Elevation of weather observation facility 746
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) --
Time Zone of the weather observation CST
Lighting Conditions Night
Lowest Ceiling Height 1600
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 800
Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions Few
Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling Broken
Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) --
Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) --
Visibility (Statute Miles) 0.75
Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) -1
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) -2
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 0
Variable Wind Indicator Wind direction could be determined
Wind Speed (knots) 0
Wind Velocity Indicator --
Wind Gust Indicator Unknown
Wind Gust (knots) --
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 30.19
Density Altitude (feet) --
Intensity of Precipitation --
METAR weather report --
Event Highest Injury None
On Ground, Fatal Injuries --
On Ground, Minor Injuries --
On Ground, Serious Injuries --
Injury Total Fatal --
Injury Total Minor --
Injury Total None 2
Injury Total Serious --
Injury Total All --
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 21066
NTSB Notification Source FAA
NTSB Notification Date Jan 29 2004 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 830
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information DMS
Date of most recent change to record Feb 26 2007 11:14AM
User who most recently changed record NTSB\lema
Basic weather conditions Instrument Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office Kansas City FSDO

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N911AE
NTSB Number CHI05FA059
Missing Aircraft Indicator --
Federal Aviation Reg. Part Part 91: General Aviation
Type of Flight Plan filed IFR
Flight plan Was Activated? Yes
Damage Substantial
Aircraft Fire None
Aircraft Explosion None
Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name Learjet
Aircraft Model 35A
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number 109
Certified Max Gross Weight 18300
Aircraft Category Airplane
Aircraft Registration Class --
Aircraft is a homebuilt? No
Flight Crew Seats --
Cabin Crew Seats --
Passenger Seats --
Total number of seats on the aircraft 10
Number of Engines 2
Fixed gear or retractable gear Retractable
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection AAIP
Date of Last Inspection Oct 1 2004 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 102.4
Airframe Hours 11138.9
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name Keystone Aviation LLC
Aircraft Owner Street Address 303 N 2370 W
Aircraft Owner City Salt Lake City
Aircraft Owner State UT
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 84116
Operator is an individual? No
Operator Name Business Aviation Management Group Inc
Operator Same as Owner? No
Operator Is Doing Business As --
Operator Address Same as Owner? Yes
Operator Street Address --
Operator City --
Operator State --
Operator Country --
Operator Zip code --
Operator Code B8MA
Owner has at least one certificate --
Other Operator of large aircraft? --
Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation --
Operator Certificate Number --
Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not --
Indicates Domestic or International Flight --
Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail --
Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) Business
Second Pilot on Board Yes
Departure Point Same as Event No
Departure Airport Code SLC
Departure City Salt Lake City
Departure State UT
Departure Country USA
Departure Time 1905
Departure Time Zone MST
Destination Same as Local Flt crash at destination city
Destination Airport Code MKC
Destination City Kansas City
Destination State MO
Destination Country USA
Specific Phase of Flight Landing - roll
Report sent to ICAO? No
Evacuation occurred No
Date of most recent change to record Jan 16 2007 8:27AM
User who most recently changed record SULP
Since inspection or accident Time of Accident
Event Location Runway Number and Location 19
Runway Length 7002
Runway Width 150
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --