- Date
- October 19, 2004, 19:37 local (Oct 20, 2004, 00:37 UTC)
- Place
- Kirksville, MO
- Injuries
- 13 fatal, 2 serious
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N875JXBritish Aerospace Jetstream 32
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report January 24, 2006
- Report
- Board-adopted at Board Meeting
- Investigation class
- Class 1
- NTSB office
- Major Investigations Division
- Safety recommendations
- Yes
- FAA report
- 20041019033429A
- Case key
- 60395
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
the pilots' failure to follow established procedures and properly conduct a nonprecision instrument approach at night in IMC, including their descent below the minimum descent altitude (MDA) before required visual cues were available (which continued unmoderated until the airplane struck the trees) and their failure to adhere to the established division of duties between the flying and nonflying (monitoring) pilot.
Contributing to the accident was the pilots' failure to make standard callouts and the current Federal Aviation Regulations that allow pilots to descend below the MDA into a region in which safe obstacle clearance is not assured based upon seeing only the airport approach lights. The pilots' unprofessional behavior during the flight and their fatigue likely contributed to their degraded performance.
.
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
The Board's full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/publictn.htm. The Aircraft Accident Report number is NTSB/AAR-06/01.
On October 19, 2004, about 1937 central daylight time, Corporate Airlines (doing business as American Connection) flight 5966, a BAE Systems BAE-J3201, N875JX, struck trees on final approach and crashed short of runway 36 at Kirksville Regional Airport (IRK), Kirksville, Missouri. The flight was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 as a scheduled passenger flight from Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, in St. Louis, Missouri, to IRK. The captain, first officer, and 11 of the 13 passengers were fatally injured, and 2 passengers received serious injuries. The airplane was destroyed by impact and a postimpact fire. Night instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) prevailed at the time of the accident, and the flight operated on an instrument flight rules flight plan.
Factual narrative
The Safety Board's full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/publictn.htm. The Aircraft Accident Report number is NTSB/AAR-06/01.
On October 19, 2004, about 1937 central daylight time, Corporate Airlines (doing business as American Connection) flight 5966, a BAE Systems BAE-J3201, N875JX, struck trees on final approach and crashed short of runway 36 at Kirksville Regional Airport (IRK), Kirksville, Missouri. The flight was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 121 as a scheduled passenger flight from Lambert-St. Louis International Airport (STL), in St. Louis, Missouri, to IRK. The captain, first officer, and 11 of the 13 passengers were fatally injured, and 2 passengers received serious injuries. The airplane was destroyed by impact and a postimpact fire. Night instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) prevailed for the flight, which operated on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N875JX
- Reported as
- British Aerospace Jetstream 32
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 875
- Airframe hours
- 21,977.6
- Engines
- Garrett-AiResearch TPE331, 1,100 horsepower, turbo propGarrett-AiResearch TPE331, 1,100 horsepower, turbo prop
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Part 121
- Operator
- Corporate Airlines
- Registered owner
- Wells Fargo Bank
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · October 18, 2004 · 9.4 hours before
- Departed
- KSTL · St. Louis, MO
- Destination
- KIRK · Kirksville, MO
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- IRK · Kirksville Regional, runway 36, 6,005 × 100 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 · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 48
- Injuries
- Fatal
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Last flight review
- July 1, 2004
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 4,234 total · 2,510 in this make and model · 3,277 as pilot in command · 191 in the last 90 days · 72 in the last 30 days · 62 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Co-pilot
- Age
- 29
- Injuries
- Fatal
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Last flight review
- August 12, 2004
- Seat
- Rear
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 2,856 total · 107 in this make and model · 2,698 as pilot in command · 107 in the last 90 days · 72 in the last 30 days · 6 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Wind
- 20° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 3 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 300 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 48 °F, dew point 46 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.95 inHg
- Observed at
- KIRK, 2 nm away
Docket · 55
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 19, 2022, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 48.8 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.