NYC07LA087 · Gates Learjet 36A
Gates Learjet 36A · Accident: airframe, component or system failure during takeoff
From Newport News Williamsburg International Airport (PHF) to Newport News Williamsburg International Airport (PHF)
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC07LA087
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
- Government
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Gates Learjet 36A
- Aircraft type
- Learjet 36
- 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
- N527PA
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Newport News Williamsburg International Airport (PHF), Newport News, VATo Newport News Williamsburg International Airport (PHF)
- 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
- Public Aircraft
- 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
- Airport facilities, runway/landing area condition › Foreign substance covered
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
During the takeoff roll, the flightcrew heard a "loud pop," and the airplane began to pull to the left. The pilot flying (PF) aborted the takeoff, and the airplane began to "fishtail" down the runway. The drag chute was activated by the pilot not flying (PNF); however, it appeared to be inoperative and the pilots were unable to stop the airplane on the runway. The airplane continued off the right side, impacted a runway light, and came to rest in the grass. Examination of the airplane revealed that both of the left main landing gear tires had blown, and the left main landing gear was separated from the airplane. Due to severe fragmentation of the tires, the origin of the tire failure could not be identified. Additionally, the strap of the drag chute had separated from the airplane, and was located in the vicinity of the blown tires. Airport personnel reported observing rocks and pieces of metal on the runway after the accident. Both tires were installed on the airplane approximately 3 weeks prior to the accident, and had accumulated 19 hours and 10 cycles since their installation. According to the airplane manufacturer, the drag chute should be deployed on landing at least once during each six-month interval. The drag chute should then be inspected and re-packed per the Maintenance Manual instructions. According to maintenance records, the drag chute was most recently re-packed during a routine inspection, three months prior to the accident, and the airplane had flown 59 hours since then. The drag chute had not been deployed prior to, or after the inspection.
Probable cause
The failure of the landing gear tires due to foreign object damage (FOD) on the runway. Contributing to the accident was the failure of the drag chute.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC07LA087
- Event ID
- 20070417X00429
- Case number
- NYC07LA087
- 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, coordinates. 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: a02bd4c04f4b27d9a5b3095b402a668df1ed0d7b76ec0b4a0511041aa4c27ef5; retrieved 2026-09-18T21:14:21.782Z.