Baltimore/Washington Internati Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Baltimore, Maryland 21240
Monday, January 30, 2012 18:43 EST

The airplane was approaching the destination airport in night visual meteorological conditions. The pilot-in-command (PIC) was the pilot flying and was not familiar with the destination airport. The second-in-command (SIC) was the pilot monitoring and was familiar with the destination airport. While the airplane was at 2,000 feet mean sea level, about 10 miles from the airport, the PIC did not see the airport; however, the SIC observed the airport beacon, but not runway 33R. The controller then offered either a clearance for a visual approach to runway 33R or a vector for the runway 33R instrument landing system (ILS) approach. The PIC indicated to the SIC that he wanted the ILS; however, the SIC stated that he saw runway 33R and asked the PIC if he saw it, to which he replied no. The SIC then told the controller that they had the runway in sight. The PIC subsequently stated to the SIC that he saw runway 33R, but he confused it with runway 28. About 2 minutes later, with the SIC assisting, the PIC visually acquired the correct runway. At that time, the airplane was about 6 miles from the runway, at 1,400 feet msl. The airplane made a left turn, followed by a right turn, which positioned it from a final approach to runway 28, to a final approach to runway 33R. The airplane was lined-up for runway 33R about 4 miles from the runway threshold, at 1,000 feet and 145 knots groundspeed. While on short final approach, about 300 feet agl, the airspeed went below the landing reference speed (Vref) by about 3 to 5 knots. The SIC responded by emphasizing "below Vref" two times, followed by "power" four times. The PIC added power and the airplane's speed went above Vref by about 10 knots. The airplane touched down about halfway down the 5,000 foot-long runway, about 140 knots groundspeed with an approximate 5-knot tailwind. Although the flight crew did not believe the thrust reversers activated, non-volatile memory (NVM) of the engine controls revealed that they deployed for 13 seconds; however, the airplane still traveled off the end of the runway and came to rest in mud about 200 feet from the departure end. Examination of the airplane and its other NVM did not reveal any preimpact mechanical malfunctions. The flight crew did not report any additional anomalies, including the breaking system, and 226 feet of pulsing skid marks were identified near the departure end of the runway.

The pilot-in-command's failure to obtain the proper touchdown point or landing reference speed and failure to initiate a go-around when it became evident that the airplane was landing long and fast. Contributing to the incident was a lack of effective flight crew coordination and communication.