Colorado Aviation Accidents & Incidents

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

On January 24, 2001, at 1127 mountain standard time, an Aero Vodochody L-39CT, N602MC, was destroyed when it impacted terrain while on departure from Front Range Airport, Watkins, Colorado. The airline transport pilot and his passenger were fatally injured. MAC Flightlease, Inc., of Portland, Oregon, was operating the airplane under Title 14 CFR Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the local flight that was originating at the time of the accident. No flight plan had been filed.

According to airport personnel, on the morning of the accident, the airplane was topped off with 135 gallons of jet fuel. The tip tanks were not fueled, and an employee of the pilot said that the pilot always flew with them empty. Several witnesses observed the airplane taxi to runway 26 for departure (a tail wind departure). A pilot, in his airplane on the run up pad for runway 26, observed the accident airplane begin its takeoff roll while there was a Cessna 172 (possibly a 182) over the numbers on the departure end of the runway.

A pilot in a Cessna 182, who was on 3/4 to 1 mile final when the accident airplane took the active runway, said she was surprised to see the jet on the runway in front of her. She didn't hear any radio calls from him to indicate that he was taking the active runway for departure. She said that she had to slow down and do a couple of "S" turns to allow for spacing. Another witness said that the accident airplane lifted off after a ground roll about 3,800 to 4,000 feet, but appeared to be flying really slow. Several witnesses observed the airplane make a sharp left turn, at approximately 100 to 300 feet above the ground, just past the end of the runway. Another pilot observed the accident airplane taking off and thought it was "very low" and then observed it make a sharp left turn (estimated to be 70 to 90 degrees of bank). He said he could see the whole top of the airplane in the turn. Another pilot said that the Cessna in front of the jet was flying its crosswind leg when the accident airplane began its turn over the departure end of runway 26. One pilot said that she heard no radio transmissions from the accident airplane through his entire departure sequence from Front Range Airport.

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) radar data indicates that at 1126:19, the airplane crossed the departure end of runway 26 at approximately 173 knots. At 1126:33, the airplane was turning southbound, and had lost an estimated 15 knots of airspeed. No altitude information could be retrieved from the radar data because the airplane's transponder was not emanating any signals. Approximately 2 nautical miles (nm) south of runway 26, the last raw radar return was recorded at 1126:56; the accident airplane's airspeed was estimated to be 200 knots.

A witness, driving south on Imboden Road, reported seeing a cloud of debris depart aft of the airplane, and flutter in the sunlight to the ground. She sa