FTW85FA081 · Gates Learjet 35
Gates Learjet 35 · Accident: loss of control in flight during initial climb
From Waco Regional Airport (ACT) to Dallas Love Field (DAL)
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW85FA081
- 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
- 1 · 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
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
- N95TC
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Waco Regional Airport (ACT), Waco, TXTo Dallas Love Field (DAL), Dallas, TX
- 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
- Initial climb
- 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
- Loss of control in flight
- 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 › Directional control, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Procedures/directives, not followed
- Pilot in command › Rotation, excessive
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
NO EVIDENCE OF PREIMPACT MECHANICAL FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION WAS NOTED DURING WRECKAGE EXAMINATION. THE FAA OPERATIONS INSPECTOR WHO WAS ON BOARD AT THE TIME OF THE ACCIDENT STATED THERE WERE NO AIRCRAFT PROBLEMS INVOLVED. THE PIC, WHO WASIN THE PROCESS OF TAKING HER TYPE RATING CHECK RIDE IN THE AIRCRAFT, FAILED TO MAINTAIN DIRECTIONAL CONTROL DURING A SIMULATED ENGINE FAILURE AFTER REACHING V1 SPEED DURING THE TAKEOFF RUN. THE TOTAL FLIGHT EXPERIENCE FOR THE PIC WAS 2454 HOURS, MOST OF WHICH WAS ACQUIRED IN MULTIENGINE AIRCRAFT, WITH 387 HOURS BEING IN THE MAKE AND MODEL AIRCRAFT INVOLVED IN THE ACCIDENT. ALL LISTED EXPERIENCE IN THIS MAKE AND MODEL WAS OBTAINED AS SECOND-IN-COMMAND.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW85FA081
- Event ID
- 20001214X41776
- Case number
- FTW85FA081
- 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: 7474a341515f710d9d38c4d7028095ccbe1062d77a60c3e5acd331c9f5767f4e; retrieved 2026-09-21T05:12:16.023Z.