Originally Posted by
Old Boeing Driver
Good info about the previous flights. I looked at the last flight track and noted they had just reached FL430 and then started descending. I would think that even at light weights it would be a struggle to be at FL430 in that airplane. The least amount of turbulence might cause an upset.
Not sure how close they were to the weather, but it looked like they had none to the south.
On the other hand, they would have had a lot of altitude to recover.
The CL60 (Challenger 601-3A) is certified ONLY to 41,000. Having flown sn 5003 for 9 years I can tell you they are not high altitude airplanes until they are at a light fuel load. Mix a little out of the envelop with turbulence around thunderstorms the outcome is exactly what you see. Remember the CJ, Pinnacle Airlines I believe, that was being ferried and the crew decided to see how high they could push it. It also came straight down.