About 2020 e.s.t., on September 8, 1977, Champion Home Builders Company, Gates Learjet 25B, N999HG, crashed shortly after takeoff at Stanford, North Carolina. All five persons aboard were killed, and the aircraft was destroyed. The aircraft departed Sanford Airport about 2018 e.s.t., for a flight to Flint, Michigan. In accordance with departure instructions from Fayetteville departure control, the flight was about 3 mi west of the airport, climbing through 3,000 ft, on a heading of 270 degrees, when it disppeared from radar. There were no distress calls, but several witnesses west of the airpott saw the aircraft on fire below the 600-ft overcast ceiling. The flight completed a right turn to a northeasterly heading and suddenly dove to the ground. People in the immediate vicinity reported that the aircraft was on fire before it crashed. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was one or more low-order explosions in the aircraft's aft fuselage which resulted in a fire and loss of control capability. The Safety Board could not determine conclusively the fuel and ignition sources of the initial explosion; however, gases from the aircraft's batteris or fuel leakage from fuel system componints, or both, could have been present in the area of the initial explosion.
Aircraft Accident Report - Champion Home Builders Company, Gates LearJet 25B, N999HG, Sanford, North Carolina, September 8, 1977
1979
31 pages
Report
Keine Angabe
Englisch
GATES LEARJET SPECIAL MISSION AIRCRAFT
Emerald Group Publishing | 1979
Gates Learjet Model 28/29, the first 'Longhorn' Learjet
AIAA | 1978
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