Three crashes involving turbine-powered aircraft that killed three pilots in the space of two days are being investigated by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
On 24 June, a Pilatus PC-12, on a training flight from Big Timber, Montana, crewed by an instructor and the new aircraft’s owner, crashed about 1.5km (0.8nm) from the runway just after take-off. Both pilots were killed when the aircraft came down on a hillside and burst into flames. On the same day, an Aero Charter Services Cessna Citation Encore overran the 1,880m (6,160ft) runway 24 at Upland-Cable airfield, between Los Angeles and San Bernadino, California, and burst into flames. The two crew and single passenger survived.
On 25 June, a Mitsubishi Mu-2 twin turboprop came down soon after taking off from St Lucie airport, Florida. The pilot, a professional with an instructor rating who had filed an instrument flight rules flightplan to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, was the only person on board. He was killed and the aircraft destroyed by fire.
n Platinum Jet Management has received a cease and desist order, 14 months after the company was fined $1.8 million by the US Federal Aviation Administration for safety violations relating to a 2 February 2005 Bombardier Challenger 600 runway overrun at Teterboro, New Jersey. The Department of Transportation order claims Platinum Jet operated the Challenger and other charter flights without economic or regulatory authority. The order also says that the company and one of its three owners was not a US citizen and violated US cabotage rules. According to findings of a preliminary FAA investigation, Platinum Jet does not hold an air carrier certificate as required under FAR rules for companies flying passengers for compensation or hire.
Source: Flight International
