Incident Overview
Description
A Cessna 525 CitationJet corporate jet sustained substantial damage in an accident near Elk City Airport, OK (ELK). The airplane departed Rapid City Regional Airport, SD (RAP) about 20:08 local time (03:08 UTC) and was destined for ELK. Night instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) prevailed at the time of the accident. The airplane was on an instrument approach to runway 17 at Elk City Airport about 23:00 local time (05:00 UTC) when it impacted a 29-foot tall electric utility pole about 10 feet 7 inches above ground level, located two miles north of the runway. The impact scattered debris from the separated pole for about 200 feet and resulted in substantial damage to the fuselage and horizontal stabilizer. The pilot executed a go-around and diverted to Oklahoma City-Will Rogers Airport, OK (OKC), where it landed without incident about 23:40 local time (05:40 UTC). The pilot reported that he thought he had leveled the airplane at an indicated altitude 2,500 feet msl and at no time during the descent and approach did the airplane’s radar altimeter sound an alert indicating that he was below 400 feet agl radar altitude. He also reported that he never saw the terrain, never saw any obstructions, and he never saw the runway lights or airport environment. An examination of the airplane after landing at OKC showed substantial damage to the nose structure, lower and upper fuselage, and the left side of the horizontal stabilizer. The right side of the radome had impact damage and there was a penetrating impact in the right side of the forward avionics bay. There was also evidence that both engines had ingested foreign objects, but there was not a resulting significant loss of engine power. PROBABLE CAUSE: “The pilot’s descent below the published minimum descent altitude for the instrument approach procedure, which resulted in impact with a utility pole.”
Source of Information
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N61YP/history/20140204/0300Z/KRAP/KELKhttp://flightaware.com/live/flight/N61YP/history/20140204/0300Z/KRAP/KELKShare on: