One Fatally Injured, Airplane Destroyed

The NTSB has released a preliminary report from an accident which occurred at Aspen Airport on January 5. The accident resulted in one fatal injury, and received additional media attention because it was witnessed by at least two celebrities who Tweeted about the crash.

According to the report, at 1222 mountain standard time, a Bombardier CL-600-2B16, N115WF, impacted the runway while attempting to land on Runway 15 at Aspen-Pitkin County Airport/Sardy Field (KASE), Aspen, Colorado. There were two crewmembers and a passenger onboard. One crewmember was fatally injured; the other crewmember and passenger received serious injuries. The airplane was destroyed. The airplane was registered to the Bank of Utah Trustee and operated by Vineland Corporation Company, Panama, South America under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight, which operated on an instrument flight rules flight plan. The flight originated from Tucson International Airport (KTUS), Tucson, Arizona, at 1004.

According to preliminary information from the FAA, the flight was in radio contact with ASE air traffic control (ATC). At 1210, N115WF utilized the localizer DME-E approach into KASE. ASE ATC reported winds as 290º at 19 knots, with winds gusting to 25 knots to the crew before landing. The crew executed a missed approach, and then requested to be vectored for a second attempt. On the second landing attempt N115WF briefly touched down on the runway, then bounced into the air and descended rapidly impacting with the ground at midfield. No further communications were received by ASE ATC from the accident airplane.

At 1220, the KASE automated surface observation system (ASOS) reported the following weather conditions: wind from 320° true at 14 knots gusting to 25 knots, wind variable from 280° to 360, visibility 10 miles in haze, scattered clouds at 4,700 feet above ground level, ceiling broken at 6,000 feet, temperature -12° Celsius (C), dew point temperature -21° C, altimeter 30.07 inches of mercury. The remarks indicated a peak wind from 320° at 26 knots occurred at 1204.

The KASE ASOS one-minute data at the time of the accident reported the wind at 333º true at 14 knots gusting to 17 knots.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov