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NYC94FA123 · Gates Learjet 35

13 Jul 1994 · Atlantic City, NJ, United States

Gates Learjet 35 · Accident: airframe, component or system failure during takeoff

From Atlantic City International Airport (ACY) to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)

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Event

NTSB case
NYC94FA123
Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
Completed
API-reported fatalities
0 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
0
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
Charter & commuter
WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
Visual Meteorological Cond

Gates Learjet 35

Aircraft type
Learjet 35
Category
Airplane
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
N69PS
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Atlantic City International Airport (ACY)To Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), Newark, NJ
Aircraft age
Not recorded
Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
Takeoff · roll/run
First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
Airframe, component or system failure
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Substantial

Cause areas

  • Company maintenance personnel › Maintenance, improper
  • Company/operator management › Checklist, improper
  • Landing gear, tire › Failure, total
  • Landing gear, tire › Overtemperature
  • Landing gear, tire › Pressure too low
  • Pilot in command › Emergency procedure, inadequate

Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Atlantic City, NJ, the place the record names. Not the accident site.

NTSB narrative

THE PILOT (PIC) SAID THAT DURING TAKEOFF, THE AIRPLANE 'PULLED' LEFT BEFORE REACHING V1 (TAKEOFF DECISION SPEED) & HE HAD DIFFICULTY MAINTAINING DIRECTIONAL CONTROL. HE INITIATED AN ABORT, BUT COULD NOT STOP ON THE REMAINING RUNWAY. THE PLANE CROSSED A CONCRETE SLAB THAT PREVIOUSLY SUPPORTED AN APPROACH LIGHT & THE MAIN GEAR COLLAPSED. THE PLANE STOPPED 446' FROM THE DEPARTURE END OF THE RUNWAY. THE OUTER LEFT TIRE HAD BLOWN DURING THE TAKEOFF ROLL, FOLLOWED BY THE LEFT INNER TIRE & BOTH RIGHT MAIN TIRES. PIC WAS UNABLE TO OBTAIN REVERSE THRUST. THE THRUST REVERSERS SHOULD HAVE BEEN (BUT WERE NOT) ARMED BEFORE TAKEOFF; THIS WAS NOT INCLUDED ON THE CHECKLIST THAT WAS PROVIDED TO THE FLIGHTCREW. ALSO, THE PIC DID NOT DEPLOY THE DRAG CHUTE. COMPANY MAINTENANCE PERSONNEL INDICATED THE TIRES HAD BEEN UNDER-INFLATED WHEN THEY WERE BUILT UP & INSTALLED, SEVERAL DAYS BEFORE THE ACCIDENT & THAT THE TIRES HAD NOT BEEN CHECKED OR REINFLATED AFTER BUILDUP. GOODYEAR REPORTED THE TIRES COULD HAVE BEEN UP TO 50% UNDER-INFLATED. AN EXAM OF THE TIRES DISCLOSED EVIDENCE OF UNDER-INFLATION, & SUBSEQUENT OVERHEATING.

Probable cause

UNDER-INFLATION OF THE TIRES, DUE TO IMPROPER MAINTENANCE, WHICH RESULTED IN OVERHEATING AND SUBSEQUENT TIRE FAILURE; THE INCORRECT CHECKLIST THAT WAS PROVIDED TO THE AIRCREW; AND FAILURE OF THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND TO DEPLOY THE DRAG CHUTE, WHEN THE THRUST REVERSERS DID NOT OPERATE.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record NYC94FA123
Event ID
20001206X01820
Case number
NYC94FA123
Dataset
historical-pre2008
Source SHA-256
89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
  • Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
  • Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: b88679a772b0edfd6c31c0afbe73ee88534d6e5db761fe8d093f1000ace056ef; retrieved 2026-09-18T18:12:39.211Z.