Potentially Devastating Crash Yielding Few Details At This Point

While the NTSB will, necessarily, need a lot more time before filing a final report, the pictures and other details making themselves known show one thing, conclusively... that this could have been a truly tragic accident --and for reasons well beyond the hazards encountered by those aboard. Pictures and ground track data indicate that the Premier came perilously close to taking a course/energy line that could have severely hazarded people on the ground... and the pictures of nearby photographers running to avoid the approaching jet provide dramatic testimony to the possibilities.

One thing is for certain, this aircraft was NOT on a stabilized approach and while few approaches into Oshkosh fit the normal definition of "stable," there seems to be little question that this is an accident that was avoidable had the pilot aborted the approach and gone around...

NTSB Identification: CEN10FA443
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Tuesday, July 27, 2010 in Oshkosh, WI
Aircraft: Hawker Beechcraft 390, registration: N6JR
Injuries: 2 Serious.

This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed.

On July 27, 2010, approximately 1816 central daylight time (all times referenced as central daylight time), a Hawker Beechcraft model 390 (Premier IA) business jet, N6JR, registered to and operated by Roush Fenway Racing, LLC, was substantially damaged when it impacted terrain during landing to runway 18R at Wittman Regional Airport (KOSH), Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Day visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The business flight was being conducted under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The airline transport certificated pilot and his passenger were seriously injured. The cross-country flight had departed Willow Run Airport (KYIP), near Ypsilanti, Michigan, at 1729 with KOSH as the intended destination.

The pilot was flying to KOSH to attend the Experimental Aircraft Association’s Airventure 2010 fly-in convention. Air traffic control (ATC) data indicated that the accident flight entered the Oshkosh area under visual flight rules and was cleared to land on runway 18R (8,002 feet by 150 feet, concrete).

A review of amateur video taken at KOSH showed the accident airplane in a left base turn to final for runway 18R. The airplane appeared to overshoot the runway centerline during this turn and then level its wings momentarily before entering a slight right bank simultaneously as the nose of the airplane pitched up. The airplane then turned left toward the runway centerline and began a descent. During this descent the airplane’s pitch appeared to increase until the airplane entered a right bank and struck the grass area west of the runway in a nose down, right wing low attitude.

The pilot and passenger were assisted out of the aircraft and transported to the hospital for treatment of their serious, but non-life-threatening injuries.

An on-scene investigation was immediately initiated after the accident. The air traffic controllers working the final portion of the accident flight were interviewed and the recorded ATC voice transmissions were secured for further review. The final segments of the accident flight were below available radar coverage, and as such no radar track data was available for review. The wreckage debris path and accident site were surveyed before the airplane was eventually recovered to a secured area where further inspections were performed the following day. No preimpact malfunctions or anomalies were noted during the on-scene inspections of the airframe structure, flight control systems, or two turbo-fan engines. Several non-volatile memory devices were removed from the airplane and were retained for future download. A cockpit voice recorder was recovered and shipped to the NTSB Vehicle Recorder Division in Washington D.C. for readout. The remaining wreckage was released back to the aircraft owner/operator on July 29, 2010.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov