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ATL88MA184 · Learjet 35A

24 May 1988 · WEST PATERSON, NJ, United States

United Executive Jet Learjet 35A · Accident: in flight collision with terrain/water while maneuvering

From Teterboro Airport (TEB) to Morristown Municipal Airport (MMU)

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Event

NTSB case
ATL88MA184
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
4 · 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
General aviation
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

Learjet 35A

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
N500RW
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Teterboro Airport (TEB), TETERBORO, NJTo Morristown Municipal Airport (MMU), Morristown, 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 91: General Aviation
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
Maneuvering
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
In flight collision with terrain/water
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Destroyed

Cause areas

  • Pilot in command › Altitude, misjudged
  • Pilot in command › Judgment, poor
  • Pilot in command › Maneuver, attempted

Not plotted · Location withheld: coordinates are missing, conflicting, invalid, or have no accepted acquisition method. No substitute location has been invented.

NTSB narrative

WITNESSES RPTED A NORMAL TAKEOFF. RADAR INDICATED THE ACFT TURNED RIGHT AS CLEARED AND BEGAN CRUISE AT 1900 FT, HDG NW AT 235 KTS. 65 SECS AFTER CALLING CLEAR OF THE CONTROL ZONE THE ACFT'S RADAR TRACK ENDED. THE ACFT WAS FRAGMENTED BY THEIMPACT WITH ALL FLT CONTROL SURFACES AND ACFT EXTREMITIES FOUND AT THE IMPACT SITE. PITCH TRIM WAS FOUND IN THE NORMAL CRUISE SETTING WITH GEAR, FLAPS, AND SPOILERS IN THE RETRACTED POSITION. EXAM OF THE ENGS INDICATED OPERATION AT IMPACT.ACFT STRUCK THE TERRAIN IN APPROX 80 DEG NOSE DOWN, WNGS LEVEL ATTITUDE & HEADING OPPOSITE TO THE PREVIOUS DIRECTION OF FLT. IN FLIGHT SIMULATOR TESTS, WITH THE ACFT INITIALLY IN LEVEL FLT AT 1900 FEET AND THEN ROLLED INVERTED AND THE PITCHCONTROL MOVED AFT, THE ACFT ATTITUDE WAS SIMILAR TO THE ATTITUDE AT IMPACT. THERE WERE TWO UNAUTH PAX ON BOARD, ONE WAS THE COPILOT'S WIFE. THE IMPACT POINT WAS IN A VERY SMALL REGION OF UNCONTROLLED AIRSPACE VERY NEAR THE COPILOT'S AND RELATIVE'S HOMES. THE COPILOT WAS NEW TO JET OPERATIONS. THE ACFT DEPARTED WITH SEVERAL DISCREPANCIES UNCLEARED.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record ATL88MA184
Event ID
20001213X25623
Case number
ATL88MA184
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: 53826a1a41da1eabb8baace21df882ec67737c0414f2fb759ce8a731ac967703; retrieved 2026-09-21T03:42:59.570Z.