- Date
- May 24, 1988, 03:16 local (07:16 UTC)
- Place
- West Paterson, NJ
- Injuries
- 4 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N500RWLearjet 35A
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report August 4, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19880524029049A
- Case key
- 7821
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
Witnesses rpted a normal takeoff. Radar indicated the acft turned right as cleared and began cruise at 1900 ft, hdg nw at 235 KTS. 65 secs after calling clear of the control zone the acft's radar track ended. The acft was fragmented by theimpact with all flt control surfaces and acft extremities found at the impact site. Pitch trim was found in the normal cruise setting with gear, flaps, and spoilers in the retracted position. Exam of the engs indicated operation at impact. Acft struck the terrain in approx 80 deg nose down, wngs level attitude & heading opposite to the previous direction of flt. In flight simulator tests, with the acft initially in level flt at 1900 feet and then rolled inverted and the pitchcontrol moved aft, the acft attitude was similar to the attitude at impact. There were two unauth pax on board, one was the copilot's wife. The impact point was in a very small region of uncontrolled airspace very near the copilot's and relative's homes. The copilot was new to jet operations. The acft departed with several discrepancies uncleared.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N500RW
- Reported as
- Learjet 35A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 35A
- Airframe hours
- 4,735
- Engine
- Garrett TFE-731-2-2B, 3,500 lbs thrust, turbo fan
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Positioning · Part 91
- Operator
- United Executive Jet, Inc., doing business as Jetcorp
- Registered owner
- Air Srv Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Transport
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · April 25, 1988 · 45 hours before
- Departed
- TEB · Teterboro, NJ
- Destination
- MMU · Morristown, NJ
- Airport
- TEB · Teterboro, runway 19, 7,000 × 150 ft, asphalt
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 36
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 8,910 total · 759 in this make and model · 8,047 as pilot in command · 114 in the last 90 days · 42 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 220° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 8,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 68 °F, dew point 61 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- TEB, 7 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.