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Inadequate Airspeed, Fialure to Activate Deice Boots Among Causes Cited by NTSB in Pueblo, Colorado Corporate Jet Crash
The National Transportation Safety Board determined today that the February 2005 crash of a Cessna Citation owned by Circuit City Stores, Inc., was caused by the flight crew's failure to effectively monitor and maintain airspeed and comply with procedures for deice boot activation on their approach to Pueblo, Colorado, which led to an aerodynamic stall. Contributing to the accident was the FAA's failure to establish adequate certification requirements for flight into icing conditions, which led to the inadequate stall warning margin provided by the airplane's stall warning system.
The accident occurred on February 16, 2005, when the first of two Cessna Citation aircraft carrying Circuit City employees to a meeting in California crashed just east of the Pueblo Memorial Airport. All six passengers and the two flight crewmembers were killed in the crash.
"This accident underscores the importance of flight crews carefully monitoring and cross checking flight instruments during approach," stated NTSB Chairman Mark V. Rosenker. "We would also like to see more progress from the Federal Aviation Administration on major icing recommendations we issued a decade ago."
The Board's investigation determined that the aircraft encountered icing conditions during the flight resulting in an accumulation of thin, rough ice on the wing leading edges that degraded the aircraft's performance. According to the Cessna 560 airplane flight manual (AFM), pilots are trained to increase the landing reference airspeed whenever any residual ice is present or can be expected during approach and landing. An examination of the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) did not record either pilot mention increasing the airspeed during the approach.
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