Hughes Charter Air Gates Learjet 25 accident
Gates Learjet 25 · Accident: loss of control in flight during landing
From Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW) to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)
Event
- NTSB case
- DCA83AA023
- 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
- 2 · 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 25
- Aircraft type
- Learjet 25
- 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
- N51CA
- Operator
- Hughes Charter Air
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW), CHIGAGO, ILTo Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)
- 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
- Landing
- 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
- Aircraft handling › Not maintained
- Copilot/second pilot › Judgment, poor
- Pilot in command › Judgment, poor
- Planned approach › Improper
- Recovery from bounced landing › Improper
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Newark, NJ, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE ACFT WAS ON A NGT CHECK COURIER FLT. DURING ARRIVAL, THE INDICATED AIRSPEED WAS WELL ABOVE THE LEGAL LIMIT OF 250 KTFOR FLT BELOW 10,000 FT. RWY 4R WAS SELECTED FOR LANDING AFTER THE CREW WERE ADVISED THAT THEIR ORIGINAL CHOICE (RWY 11)WAS NOISE SENSITIVE. THEY WERE ADVISED NOT TO DESCEND BELOW 2000 FT UNTIL ON FINAL APCH. THE TURN TO FINAL WAS COMPLETEDABOUT 1 MI FROM THE RWY AT AN ALT OF APRX 700 FT. A STEEP (5 DEG) FINAL APCH WAS FLOWN WITH AN ESTIMATED 1000 FPM RATE OF DESCENT. ON LANDING, THE ACFT BOUNCED, BANKED/TURNED TO THE RGT, THEN IT HIT THE GROUND, RGT WING 1ST & BURNED. AN EXAM OF THE WRECKAGE REVEALED THE ACFT WAS CONFIGURED WITH THE GEAR EXTENDED, THE FLAPS DOWN 20 DEG & THE SPOILERS RETRACTED. NO EVIDENCE OF A PREIMPACT PART FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION WAS FOUND. THE TRIM WAS SET FOR A HVY RGT WING & THE FUEL SWS WERE SET TO X-FEED FUEL. TOX CHECKS SHOWED THAT BOTH PLTS HAD USED OR BEEN EXPOSED TO MARIJUANA & HAD CO2 IN THEIR BLOOD FROM SMOKING; USE OF MEDICATION (PHENYLPROPANOLAMINE) BY COPLT. EVIDENCE OF PSBL FATIGUE/STRESS TO BOTH.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DCA83AA023
- Event ID
- 20001214X42389
- Case number
- DCA83AA023
- 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: 6275fd69996abc9ac4665bc56dfa242c81849ea123146af0e8c4eff3cc9c8672; retrieved 2026-09-18T14:30:54.428Z.