Six Presumed Fatally Injured When The Aircraft Impacted The Water In December

The NTSB has released its preliminary report from an accident which occurred December 29 last year that resulted in the presumed fatal injury of the pilot of a Cessna Citation CJ4 and five passengers on board the aircraft. The report shows that the pilot had received his certification to fly the jet just a few weeks before the accident flight.

According to the report, the aircraft was destroyed during an in-flight collision with Lake Erie shortly after takeoff from runway 24R (6,604 feet by 150 feet, asphalt) at the Burke Lakefront Airport (BKL) in Cleveland, Ohio. The pilot and five passengers are missing and presumed fatal. The airplane was registered to Maverick Air LLC and operated by the pilot under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Night visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight, which was operated on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan. The intended destination was the Ohio State University Airport (OSU), Columbus, Ohio.

The pilot and passengers initially departed OSU about 1730 and arrived at BKL about 1800. The pilot checked in at the fixed base operator (FBO) at 1812. The pilot and passengers reportedly attended a local sporting event before returning to the airport about 2230. An initial review of Air Traffic Control (ATC) transmissions between the pilot and the Midwest ATC Federal Contract Tower at BKL revealed that the pilot requested the IFR clearance at 2247, followed by the taxi clearance at 2251. At 2256, the pilot informed the BKL tower controller that he was holding short of the runway and ready for takeoff. The controller subsequently cleared the pilot for takeoff and instructed him to turn right to a heading of 330 degrees and maintain 2,000 feet msl after departure. The pilot acknowledged the clearance. After takeoff, the controller instructed the pilot to contact departure control; however, no further communications were received from the pilot. After multiple attempts to contact the pilot were unsuccessful, the controller initiated search and rescue procedures.

ADS-B position data indicated that the takeoff began about 2256:47. The data depicted the airplane entering a right turn shortly after crossing the runway departure threshold. The airplane became established on a magnetic course of 310 degrees at about 2257:28. During this time, the airplane reached an altitude of approximately 2,925 feet msl. About 5 seconds later, the airplane entered a descending right turn that continued until the final data point. The final data point was recorded at 2257:52 and was located 1.83 miles northwest of BKL. The associated altitude was 775 feet msl.

The resulting search and recovery effort was hampered by weather and lake conditions. Airplane debris, including the cockpit voice recorder, was ultimately located about 0.10 mile northeast of the final data point. The cockpit voice recorder was transferred to the NTSB Recorders Laboratory for readout. A detailed wreckage examination will be conducted once recovery operations have concluded.

The Cessna 525C Citation CJ4 airplane is approved for single pilot operations provided the pilot-in-command holds a CE525S (single pilot) type rating, the airplane is configured for single pilot operations in accordance with the operating limitations, and the pilot occupies the left pilot seat.

FAA records revealed that the accident pilot held a private pilot certificate with airplane single and multi-engine land, rotorcraft helicopter, and instrument airplane category/class ratings. In addition, the pilot held CE-510S and CE-525S type ratings. He was issued a third class airman medical certificate without limitations on October 15, 2015. The pilot's CE-525S type rating was added December 8, 2016, after he successfully completed the prescribed FAA practical test (checkride). His initial Cessna 525 training was completed in the accident airplane. The pilot subsequently completed a simulator-based recurrent training course at FlightSafety International on December 17, 2016.

(Image from file. Not accident airplane)

FMI: https://app.ntsb.gov/pdfgenerator/ReportGeneratorFile.ashx?EventID=20161230X91745&AKey=1&RType=Prelim&IType=FA