On July 31, 2008, about 0945 central daylight time, East Coast Jets flight 81, a Hawker Beechcraft Corporation 125-800A airplane, N818MV, crashed while attempting to go around after landing on runway 30 at Owatonna Degner Regional Airport, Owatonna, Minnesota. The two pilots and six passengers were killed, and the airplane was destroyed by impact forces. The nonscheduled, domestic passenger flight was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 135. An instrument flight rules flight plan had been filed and activated; however, it was canceled before the landing. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident.
We determined that the probable cause of this accident was the captain’s decision to attempt a go-around late in the landing roll with insufficient runway remaining.
Contributing to the accident were:
- the pilots’ poor crew coordination and lack of cockpit discipline;
- fatigue, which likely impaired both pilots’ performance; and
- the failure of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to require crew resource management (CRM) training and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for 14 CFR Part 135 operators.
The safety issues relate to the following:
- flight crew actions;
- lack of SOPs requirements for Part 135 operators, including CRM training and checklist usage;
- go-around guidance for turbine-powered aircraft;
- Part 135 preflight weather briefings;
- pilot fatigue and sleep disorders;
- inadequate arrival landing distance assessment guidance and requirements;
- Part 135 on-demand, pilot-in-command line checks; and cockpit image recording systems.
As a result of this investigation, we made 14 new recommendations and reiterated one previously issued recommendation to the Federal Aviation Administration.
