Central Air Charter Gates Learjet 25 accident
Gates Learjet 25 · Accident: loss of control on ground/water during takeoff
From an unrecorded airport to Dallas Love Field (DAL)
Event
- NTSB case
- MKC84LA043
- 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 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
- N242AG
- Operator
- Central Air Charter
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo 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 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
- Loss of control on ground/water
- 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
- Pilot in command › Diverted attention
- Pilot in command › Proper alignment, not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
DURING TAKEOFF ON A SNOW COVERED RWY AT NIGHT THE AIRCRAFT RAN OFF THE LEFT SIDE OF THE RUNWAY & WAS DAMAGED. AT THAT TIME, THE RWY WAS COVERED WITH A THIN LAYER OF DRY SNOW OVER THE TOP OF HARD PACKED SNOW. A 50 FT STRIP HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN PLOWED ALONG THE 150 FT WIDE RWY. HOWEVER, THE TOWER WAS CLOSED & NO SNOW REMOVAL WAS PERMITTED AFTER 2400 CST. THE PLT REPORTED THAT HE WAS CONCERNED ABOUT THE OIL PRESSURE AFTER STARTING IN COLD WX. AS HE APPLIED TAKEOFF POWER, HE GLANCED AT THE ENG INSTRUMENTS, OIL PRESSURE & TEMP IN PARTICULAR. HE STATED THAT HE 'HAD JUST GONE VISUALLY OUTSIDE' WHEN THE COPILOT SAID 'WATCH YOURSELF.' AT THAT POINT, THE ACFT WAS ANGLING TO THE LEFT. THE PLT KEPT THE NOSE WHEEL STEERING ENGAGED & APPLIED RIGHT RUDDER, BUT WAS UNABLE TO MAINTAIN RWY ALIGNMENT. HE REPORTED THE LEFT MAIN GEAR WAS IN 3 INCHES OF SNOW WHILE THE RIGHT GEAR WAS IN 1 INCH OF SNOW AND THIS INCREASED DRAG TO THE LEFT. THE PLT BELIEVED THAT IMPROPER SNOW REMOVAL WAS THE 'SOLE REASON.' OTHER ACFT LANDED & DEPARTED WITHOUT MAJOR DIFFICULTY.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MKC84LA043
- Event ID
- 20001214X45381
- Case number
- MKC84LA043
- 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: 74ea3ae2baa445992bfaf69164803a6401a79980c7c8f888b9d8892d82fc9fb5; retrieved 2026-09-18T20:46:49.077Z.