On March 29, 2001, a chartered

Gulfstream III The Gulfstream III, a business jet produced by Gulfstream Aerospace, is an improved development of the Grumman Gulfstream II. The U.S. military uses versions of the Gulfstream III as the C-20A/B/C/D/E aircraft, though later C-20 F/G/H/J are Gu ...

business jet operated by Avjet from

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California, to

Aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species in the Populus sect. Populus, of the ''Populus'' (poplar) genus. Species These species are called aspens: * ''Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (China, south of ''P. tremula'') * ''Populus da ...

, Colorado, crashed into the ground while on final approach. All three crew members and 15 passengers on board perished. The subsequent investigation by the

National Transportation Safety Board The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and inci ...

(NTSB) concluded that the cause of the accident was the captain's premature descent below the

minimum descent altitude In aviation, an instrument approach or instrument approach procedure (IAP) is a series of predetermined maneuvers for the orderly transfer of an aircraft operating under instrument flight rules from the beginning of the initial approach to a lan ...

, carried out without having the runway in sight. The accident's investigation also brought into focus several generic safety issues, such as pressure applied on charter pilots by customers, night flight into airports near mountainous terrain, and the ambiguity of some

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

rules.

Flight history

Captain Robert Frisbie (44) and First Officer Peter Kowalczyk (38) reported for work at Avjet's

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank had a Census-estimated population of 102,755 as of 2023. The city was ...

, facility around noon on the day of the accident. After checking the weather and the aircraft, they embarked on an 11-minute repositioning flight to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to pick up their passengers. The flight was originally scheduled to leave LAX at 16:30 MST, but departed after a 41-minute delay for late passengers at 17:11 MST. Earlier in the day, an FAA specialist had informed the crew that it would be illegal to land at night in Aspen under

instrument flight rules In aviation, instrument flight rules (IFR) is one of two sets of regulations governing all aspects of civil aviation aircraft operations; the other is visual flight rules (VFR). The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) ''Instrument Fl ...

. In addition, the crew were aware that due to

noise abatement Noise control or noise mitigation is a set of strategies to reduce noise pollution or to reduce the impact of that noise, whether outdoors or indoors. Overview The main areas of noise mitigation or abatement are: transportation noise control, a ...

restrictions, their jet aircraft was required to land at Aspen by the 18:58 MST night curfew. Following the delayed departure from LAX, their estimated arrival time was 18:46 MST, twelve minutes before the curfew took effect. As the flight approached Aspen/Pitkin County Airport, it became evident that some of the other inbound flights were performing

missed approach Missed approach is a procedure followed by a pilot when an instrument approach cannot be completed to a full-stop landing. Initiation A missed approach may be either initiated by the pilot or instructed by air traffic control (ATC). The instru ...

es, as they had been unable to complete an

instrument approach In aviation, an instrument approach or instrument approach procedure (IAP) is a series of predetermined maneuvers for the orderly transfer of an aircraft operating under instrument flight rules from the beginning of the initial approach to a lan ...

to the airport's runway. The airport is surrounded by high terrain on all sides and a fairly steep descent is required in order to land. At 18:56:06 MST, the flight was cleared for the VOR/

DME DME may refer to: Chemicals * DME (psychedelic), 3,4-dimethoxy-beta-hydroxyphenethylamine, a psychedelic drug * Dimethoxyethane, a solvent * Dimethylethanolamine, a precursor molecule for C-choline * Dimethyl ether, a fuel and an aerosol spray pro ...

-C

to the airport, whereupon it proceeded to the Red Table VOR, executed a sequence of designated step-down maneuvers and began

final approach In aeronautics, the final approach (also called the final leg and final approach leg) is the last leg in an aircraft's approach to landing, when the aircraft is lined up with the runway and descending for landing.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of A ...

to the runway. As it continued its descent past the

missed approach point Missed approach point (MAP or MAPt) is the point prescribed in each instrument approach at which a missed approach procedure shall be executed if the required visual reference does not exist. It defines the point for both precision and non-precis ...

– where the runway must be in sight to continue – the pilots had still not visually located the runway in the increasing darkness and snow showers. At 19:01:57 MST, while in a steep left bank, the aircraft crashed into the terrain, killing all 18 persons on board.

Investigation and final report

Following the crash, the aircraft's

cockpit voice recorder A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to colloquially as a "black box", an outdated nam ...

was recovered from the wreckage and the data recorded found to be intact and usable. Under Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 135

Air Taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. History The concept of air taxis existed as early as the 1910s. This concept goes back as early as 1917 with Glenn Curtiss’ prototype, the auto-plane. Furthermor ...

rules, no

flight data recorder A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to colloquially as a "black box", an outdated nam ...

was required for this type of flight and one had not been installed. Part of the subsequent NTSB investigation focused on the fact that the

at the destination airport was not legal for night landing, and the overall pressure applied on the charter company and flight crew by the charter customer to complete the flight into the original destination. According to witnesses, the charter customer, upon learning that the flight might have to be diverted to an alternate airport due to the night landing restriction, had his business assistant call Avjet management, to "let them know that the airplane was not going to be redirected". In addition, witnesses claimed that when the charter customer learned that the captain had discussed the possible diversion with some of the passengers waiting for the late arrivals, he had his assistant call Avjet to instruct the captain to "keep his comments to himself". The Avjet charter department scheduler subsequently testified that "the captain felt that it was important to land at

spen Spen may refer to: *SPEN, human gene *Spen, West Yorkshire, a List of United Kingdom locations: Sow-Stao#Sp, location in England *River Spen, river in West Yorkshire, England, the United Kingdom *SS Spen, SS ''Spen'', British steamship built in 190 ...

because of the substantial amount of money that the hartercustomer spent for a dinner party". Based on information obtained from the cockpit voice recorder, the flight attendant had escorted an unidentified male passenger to the

flight deck The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is the surface on which its aircraft take off and land, essentially a miniature airfield at sea. On smaller naval ships which do not have aviation as a primary mission, the landing area for helicopters ...

jump seat A jump seat (sometimes spelled jumpseat) is an auxiliary seat in an automobile, train or aircraft, typically folding or spring-loaded to collapse out of the way when not used. The term originated in the United States c. 1860 for a movable car ...

during the approach sequence. According to the NTSB's analysis, "the presence of this passenger in the cockpit, especially if it were the charter customer, most likely further heightened the pressure on the flight crew to land at

. The NTSB issued its final report on June 11, 2002, with the following probable cause:

The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the flight crew's operation of the airplane below the
minimum descent altitude In aviation, an instrument approach or instrument approach procedure (IAP) is a series of predetermined maneuvers for the orderly transfer of an aircraft operating under instrument flight rules from the beginning of the initial approach to a lan ...
without an appropriate visual reference for the runway.

The NTSB added the following contributing factors:

Contributing to the cause of the accident were the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) unclear wording of the March 27, 2001 Notice to Airmen regarding the nighttime restriction for the VOR/DME-C approach to the airport and the FAA's failure to communicate this restriction to the Aspen tower; the inability of the flight crew to adequately see the mountainous terrain because of the darkness and the weather conditions; and the pressure on the captain to land from the charter customer and because of the airplane's delayed departure and the airport's nighttime landing restriction.

Aftermath

After the accident, Avjet decided to prohibit airport operations at Aspen and three other mountainous airports between sunset and sunrise. It also issued the following memorandum to its flight crews and schedulers:

"if you cannot accomplish a landing and be on the ground at one of these airports before sunset you must divert to a suitable alternate. All passengers for one of these destinations must be informed of this policy. Flight crew members must report any violation of this policy or pressure from passengers to violate this policy to the Director of Operations or Chief Pilot."

Avjet also added the following policy to its operations manual after the accident:

"Only an Avjet assigned crewmember, check airman, or FAA observer may occupy the observer's seat (jump seat) in any Avjet aircraft. Charter passengers shall never be allowed to occupy the observer's seat at any time."

Litigation

A wrongful death lawsuit was filed by the families of three of the victims in

. After a jury found the captain and Avjet Corporation negligent, an out-of-court

settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), downward movement of a structure's foundation *Settlement (finance), where securities are delivered against payment of money *Settlement (litigatio ...

was reached, where Avjet agreed to pay the plaintiffs a total of US$11.7M in damages. There were reportedly also other settlements for other victims.

References

External links

Avjet Corporation

GoogleMaps aerial photo of KASE airportAirNav record for KASE – note 'Additional Remarks'Airliners.net
Photo of accident aircraft N303GA, on June 2, 2000, in

Budapest, Hungary Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Avjet Gulfstream III crash, 2001 Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in 2001 Aviation accidents and incidents in Colorado Pitkin County, Colorado 2001 in Colorado Airliner accidents and incidents involving controlled flight into terrain Airliner accidents and incidents caused by pilot error March 2001 in the United States