Columbia Metropolitan Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Columbia, South Carolina
Friday, September 19, 2008 23:53 EDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

The NTSB’s full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/publictn.htm. The Aircraft Accident Report number is NTSB/AAR-10/02. On September 19, 2008, about 2353 eastern daylight time, a Bombardier Learjet Model 60, N999LJ, owned by Inter Travel and Services, Inc., and operated by Global Exec Aviation, overran runway 11 during a rejected takeoff at Columbia Metropolitan Airport, Columbia, South Carolina. The captain, the first officer, and two passengers were killed; two other passengers were seriously injured. The nonscheduled domestic passenger flight to Van Nuys, California, was operated under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 135. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and an instrument flight rules flight plan was filed.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The operator’s inadequate maintenance of the airplane’s tires, which resulted in multiple tire failures during takeoff roll due to severe underinflation, and the captain’s execution of a rejected takeoff (RTO) after V1, which was inconsistent with her training and standard operating procedures. Contributing to the accident were (1) deficiencies in Learjet’s design of and the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) certification of the Learjet Model 60’s thrust reverser system, which permitted the failure of critical systems in the wheel well area to result in uncommanded forward thrust that increased the severity of the accident; (2) the inadequacy of Learjet’s safety analysis and the FAA’s review of it, which failed to detect and correct the thrust reverser and wheel well design deficiencies after a 2001 uncommanded forward thrust accident; (3) inadequate industry training standards for flight crews in tire failure scenarios; and (4) the flight crew’s poor crew resource management (CRM).

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 9/19/2008
Event Day of the Week Friday
Time of Event 2353
Event Time Zone Eastern Daylight Time
Event City Columbia
Event State SOUTH CAROLINA
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site --
Event Date Year 2008
Event Date Month 9
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude --
Event Location Longitude --
Event Location Airport Columbia Metropolitan
Event Location Nearest Airport ID KCAE
Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport Off Airport/Airstrip
Distance from airport in statute miles 0.5
Degrees magnetic from airport --
Airport Elevation --
Weather Briefing Completeness --
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 2345 Eastern Daylight Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) --
Weather Observation Facility ID CAE
Elevation of weather observation facility --
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) --
Time Zone of the weather observation EDT
Lighting Conditions Night
Lowest Ceiling Height --
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height --
Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions Clear
Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling None
Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) --
Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) --
Visibility (Statute Miles) 10
Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) -7
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) -10
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 60
Variable Wind Indicator Wind direction could be determined
Wind Speed (knots) 7
Wind Velocity Indicator --
Wind Gust Indicator Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) 14
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 30.23
Density Altitude (feet) --
Intensity of Precipitation --
METAR weather report --
Event Highest Injury Fatal
On Ground, Fatal Injuries --
On Ground, Minor Injuries --
On Ground, Serious Injuries --
Injury Total Fatal 4
Injury Total Minor --
Injury Total None --
Injury Total Serious 2
Injury Total All 6
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) --
NTSB Notification Source FAA
NTSB Notification Date Sep 20 2008 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time --
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information --
Date of most recent change to record Jul 16 2010 4:44PM
User who most recently changed record schd
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office AAI-100

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N999LJ
NTSB Number DCA08MA098
Missing Aircraft Indicator --
Federal Aviation Reg. Part Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
Type of Flight Plan filed IFR
Flight plan Was Activated? Yes
Damage Destroyed
Aircraft Fire Ground
Aircraft Explosion --
Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name Learjet
Aircraft Model LR60
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number --
Certified Max Gross Weight 23500
Aircraft Category Airplane
Aircraft Registration Class --
Aircraft is a homebuilt? No
Flight Crew Seats 2
Cabin Crew Seats --
Passenger Seats 8
Total number of seats on the aircraft 10
Number of Engines 2
Fixed gear or retractable gear Fixed
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection --
Date of Last Inspection --
Airframe hours since last inspection --
Airframe Hours 108
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type Unknown
Aircraft Owner Name Inter Travel and Services
Aircraft Owner Street Address --
Aircraft Owner City --
Aircraft Owner State --
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode --
Operator is an individual? No
Operator Name Global Exec Avaition
Operator Same as Owner? No
Operator Is Doing Business As --
Operator Address Same as Owner? No
Operator Street Address --
Operator City Long Beach
Operator State CA
Operator Country USA
Operator Zip code --
Operator Code --
Owner has at least one certificate Yes - certificate holder
Other Operator of large aircraft? No
Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation --
Operator Certificate Number --
Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not Non-scheduled
Indicates Domestic or International Flight Domestic
Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail Passenger Only
Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) --
Second Pilot on Board Yes
Departure Point Same as Event Yes
Departure Airport Code KCAE
Departure City Columbia
Departure State SC
Departure Country USA
Departure Time 2353
Departure Time Zone EDT
Destination Same as Local Flt --
Destination Airport Code KVNY
Destination City Van Nuys
Destination State CA
Destination Country USA
Specific Phase of Flight Takeoff - aborted
Report sent to ICAO? --
Evacuation occurred --
Date of most recent change to record Oct 16 2008 3:16PM
User who most recently changed record engb
Since inspection or accident Time of Accident
Event Location Runway Number and Location 11
Runway Length 8601
Runway Width 150
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --