Regional jet crashes while attempting emergency glide-approach after simultaneous failure of both engines
A Pinnacle Airlines Bombardier CRJ200LR suffered "almost simultaneous double engine failure" at high altitude and crashed 4.5km (2.4nm) short of the runway at Jefferson City airport, Missouri, killing the two pilots, according to the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Five days after the 14 October incident, also in Missouri, 13 people died when a Corporate Airlines BAe J32 turboprop clipped treetops and crashed on a night approach to Kirksville regional airport.
The four-year-old CRJ (N8396A) was on a positioning flight with a two-man crew from Little Rock, Arkansas to Minneapolis-St Paul, Minnesota, and crashed - still without power - during the emergency glide-approach to Jefferson City airport. NTSB analysis of flight data recorder and air traffic control records has confirmed the stricken airliner's two General Electric CF34-3B1 powerplants failed soon after reaching cruise altitude at 41,000ft (12,500m) - the aircraft's service ceiling. Within 2min of reporting at 41,000ft, the crew requested a lower level and a minute after that - at 21:55 local time - declared an emergency. At 22:03 the crew reported a double engine failure and asked for radar vectors to any airport. The NTSB says the pilots tried several times to relight the engines during the descent, but failed.
Kansas City air route traffic control centre directed the aircraft to Jefferson City, and at 22:13 the crew reported the runway in sight. Radar contact was lost when the aircraft was at 900ft above ground about 2min after they had reported visual contact, and the NTSB reports the aircraft crashed at 22:15. The agency says it has not yet correlated the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder information to an accurate timeline.
Pinnacle, which operates as Northwest Airlink, says it has now restricted all 108 of its CRJs to 37,000ft maximum cruising altitude.
On the morning of the accident, the aircraft had been involved in a rejected take-off and two mechanics flew out from Pinnacle's Memphis, Tennessee base to Little Rock to replace the right engine 14th stage bleed air sensing loop.
Meanwhile, as Flight International went to press, it was believed 13 of the 15 people on board the Corporate Airlines J32 (N875JX) were killed. Weather conditions on the night approach were overcast, with thunderstorms in the area. The aircraft crashed in a wooded area 6.5km from the runway.
DAVID LEARMOUNT & MATTHEW JONES / LONDON
Source: Flight International
