Colorado Aviation Accidents & Incidents

On July 20, 2024, about 1339 mountain daylight time, a Hawker Beechcraft Corporation Hawker 900XP airplane, N526FC, sustained substantial damage when it was involved in an accident near Telluride, Colorado. The pilot and the copilot were uninjured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 positioning flight.
The airplane was owned by Swamp Bird, Coral Gables, Florida. The airplane was operated by Foreshore Capital, Coral Gables, Florida. The airplane was managed by Corporate Air Charters, Miami, Florida, who provided the two flight crewmembers for the airplane.
According to ADS-B data, the airplane landed earlier in the day on runway 9 at Telluride Regional Airport (TEX), Telluride, Colorado. The accident flight was a positioning flight without passengers, returning to Miami Executive Airport (TMB), Miami, Florida.
TEX is located at 9,069 ft mean sea level (msl) on a 1,000-ft mesa, with rising, mountainous terrain in all quadrants. The FAA Chart Supplement included the following airport remarks for TEX at the time of the accident: “Rwy 09–27 recommended tkf Rwy 27, land Rwy 09 and avoid populated areas. Rwy 09–27 grade –.08 on rwy ends, –1.3 to approximately midpoint then +.75.”
The pilot reported the planned runway for departing on the positioning flight was runway 27 (7,111 ft length and 100 ft width). The flight crew entered the airport’s AWOS information into the airplane’s flight management system. Performance calculations performed by the flight crew showed that a takeoff roll of 6,800–6,900 ft would be needed with the wing flaps extended to 15°. The copilot was flying the airplane during the takeoff.
During the takeoff roll on the dry asphalt, the airplane did not attain 75% of the planned takeoff speed about halfway down the runway, so the copilot decided to abort the takeoff. The brakes, the air brakes, and the thrust reversers were used to slow the airplane, however the airplane “wasn’t slowing down.” Maximum braking was then applied, and the airplane began to depart the runway to the right. The airplane traveled over the EMAS and stopped about 150 ft from the runway threshold. The EMAS, which had a length of 292 ft and a width of 122 ft, sustained impact damage from the runway excursion.
After the airplane came to rest partially on the EMAS and partially on a grass field, the flight crew attempted to stop the two turbofan engines by closing the high-pressure (HP) and low-pressure (LP) fuel flow controls; however, the engines continued to operate. The pilot and copilot egressed from the main cabin door, located on the front left side of the fuselage, without incident. After exiting the airplane, the pilot saw the wing flaps were fully retracted and were not extended to 15°.
TEX personnel disconnected the airplane batteries in an attempt to stop the engines, without success. The engines finally stopped when the pilot manually adjusted the fuel control unit (via the power lever angle) under the directio