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23rd Jan 2003, 15:56
SPATIAL DISORIENTATION CITED IN CRASH OF AIRPLANE CARRYING OKLAHOMA STATE
UNIVERSITY ATHLETES
Washington, DC - The National Transportation Safety Board has determined that the probable cause of the crash of a Raytheon (Beech) King Air 200 aircraft (N81PF) near Strasburg, Colorado, was "the pilot's spatial disorientation resulting from his failure to maintain positive manual control of the airplane with the available flight instrumentation."
A contributing factor was the loss of alternating current (AC)
electrical power during instrument meteorological conditions.
The accident occurred on January 27, 2001, shortly after the
aircraft, operated by Jet Express Services, departed Jefferson County Airport, Broomfield, Colorado, for Stillwater, Oklahoma, on an instrument flight rules flight plan. N81PF, with two pilots and eight passengers aboard, was one of three airplanes transporting members of the Oklahoma State University (OSU) basketball team and associated team personnel after a
game at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The aircraft was destroyed, and there were no survivors.
The Board concluded that the pilot did not appropriately manage the workload associated with troubleshooting the loss of AC electrical power and establishing and maintaining positive control of the airplane. The airplane's estimated flight path in the final two minutes of flight was consistent with a steep spiral resulting from spatial disorientation. While the AC electrical failure contributed to the accident, the Board said, it was not a causal factor because non-AC-powered instrumentation remained
available for the duration of the flight for the pilot to use to safely fly and land the airplane.
The accident report, containing the Board's findings and
recommendations, can be found on the NTSB web site (www.ntsb.gov
<http://www.ntsb.gov>).
UNIVERSITY ATHLETES
Washington, DC - The National Transportation Safety Board has determined that the probable cause of the crash of a Raytheon (Beech) King Air 200 aircraft (N81PF) near Strasburg, Colorado, was "the pilot's spatial disorientation resulting from his failure to maintain positive manual control of the airplane with the available flight instrumentation."
A contributing factor was the loss of alternating current (AC)
electrical power during instrument meteorological conditions.
The accident occurred on January 27, 2001, shortly after the
aircraft, operated by Jet Express Services, departed Jefferson County Airport, Broomfield, Colorado, for Stillwater, Oklahoma, on an instrument flight rules flight plan. N81PF, with two pilots and eight passengers aboard, was one of three airplanes transporting members of the Oklahoma State University (OSU) basketball team and associated team personnel after a
game at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The aircraft was destroyed, and there were no survivors.
The Board concluded that the pilot did not appropriately manage the workload associated with troubleshooting the loss of AC electrical power and establishing and maintaining positive control of the airplane. The airplane's estimated flight path in the final two minutes of flight was consistent with a steep spiral resulting from spatial disorientation. While the AC electrical failure contributed to the accident, the Board said, it was not a causal factor because non-AC-powered instrumentation remained
available for the duration of the flight for the pilot to use to safely fly and land the airplane.
The accident report, containing the Board's findings and
recommendations, can be found on the NTSB web site (www.ntsb.gov
<http://www.ntsb.gov>).