Dassault Falcon 20 accident near Thomson, GA
On October 5, 2021, a Dassault Falcon 20 (airplane) was involved in an accident near Thomson, GA. 2 people died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- October 5, 2021
- Place
- Thomson, GA
- Aircraft
- Dassault Falcon 20 · Airplane
- Injuries
- 2 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 33.531°N, 82.540°W
- NTSB ID
- 20211005104047
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn October 5, 2021, at 0544 eastern daylight time, a Dassault Falcon 20C airplane, N283SA, was destroyed when it impacted terrain near the Thomson-McDuffie County Airport (HQU), Thomson, Georgia. The captain and first officer were fatally injured. The airplane was operated as Pak West Airlines Flight 887 dba Sierra West Airlines, as an on-demand cargo flight under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 135. The flight crew initiated the first flight of the night which was about 1 hour in duration at 2132 mountain daylight time from their home base of El Paso International Airport (ELP), El Paso, Texas, to Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport (LBB), Lubbock, Texas. After about a 2 hour and 20-minute delay waiting for the freight on the ground, the accident flight was initiated from LBB to HQU. Review of air traffic control communications provided by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) revealed that the flight was in contact with Atlanta Air Route Traffic Control Center (ATL Center) for about the final 40 minutes of flight. At 0503 eastern daylight time, Pak West Flight 887 (PKW887) requested information about the NOTAM for the ILS localizer runway 10 instrument approach procedure at HQU. ATL Center informed the flight crew of two NOTAMs; the first pertained to the ILS runway 10 glidepath being unserviceable. When the controller advised the pilot of the glidepath NOTAM, the controller stated that he did not know what “GP” meant, which was the abbreviation for the glideslope/glidepath on the approach. The second NOTAM ap
Probable cause
The flight crew’s continuation of an unstable dark night visual approach and the captain’s instruction to use air brakes during the approach contrary to airplane operating limitations, which resulted in a descent below the glide path, and a collision with terrain. Contributing to the accident was the captain’s poor crew resource management and failure to take over pilot flying responsibilities aft
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Browse: Georgia
Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.
