US investigators have disclosed that a departing Cessna 525A jet was supposed to enter a left climbing turn, but started turning to the right before it descended and crashed after take-off from Mesquite Metro airport.
The aircraft (N525CZ) took off from the airport, located in Texas, for Addison airport near Dallas on 13 March.
It was operating a positioning flight to pick up passengers. The pilot, the only occupant, did not survive the accident.
Preliminary information from the National Transportation Safety Board states that the executive jet was cleared for a left downwind departure, which would have involved a climbing turn to the left after take-off from runway 18.
But the flightpath shows that it instead entered a right turn and climbed to 950ft altitude – about 500ft above ground – before descending, still in the turn, and crashing in woodland barely 30s after becoming airborne.
No distress call was received by air traffic control. Witnesses who saw the jet in a descending, right-bank turn, did not report seeing fire or trailing smoke.
“All major components were located in the debris path,” adds the safety board.
Investigators are analysing the cockpit-voice recorder while engine-control data from the jet’s Williams International FJ44 powerplants is being downloaded.
The fixed-base operator at Mesquite told the inquiry that the pilot requested top-off fuel before departure, and 224USgal of Jet-A was uplifted.
Visual daylight conditions prevailed with no cloud in the area at the time of the accident.
