1973 DeKalb–Peachtree Airport Learjet crash

On February 26, 1973, a private Learjet 24 crashed shortly after take-off from DeKalb–Peachtree Airport in Chamblee, Georgia, United States. The aircraft, registration N454RN, owned by a private corporation, struck birds shortly after lifting off. Air traffic control advised the flight crew of smoke trailing from their left engine; the crew said they would not be able to return to the airport. The aircraft impacted the roof of an apartment building and came to rest in a ravine. All five passengers and two crew members aboard the aircraft were killed; a person in the apartment building suffered severe burns.

A subsequent investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) confirmed the aircraft had impacted birds during take-off. Due to loss of power in the left engine, the flight crew were unable to control their aircraft before it struck the roof of the apartment building. The investigation further determined the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and officials at DeKalb–Peachtree Airport were aware of the danger of birds at the airport after a landfill site had opened in the vicinity of the airport ten years before the accident.

Accident

The, registration N454RN, used for the flight between Chamblee, Georgia, and Miami, Florida, had been manufactured in 1966, and had accumulated 4,041 flying hours. Powered by two General Electric CJ610-4 turbojet engines, the aircraft was registered to Machinery Buyers Corporation, an Atlanta firm. A spokesperson for the company later told the Daily Record the aircraft was to pick up a customer in Miami. The flight crew consisted of captain Ernest Sellfors, aged 31, and first officer David Phillips, aged 27. Sellfors was permitted to fly Learjet 24, and Hawker Siddeley 125 aircraft, and had a total of 5,600 flying hours, of which 2,150 were in jet aircraft. Phillips had begun flying in the Learjet 24 several weeks before the accident, and had accumulated a total of 4,000 flying hours in other aircraft.

The weather around the time of the accident was overcast, with a ceiling of 500 ft. Visibility was 4 mi, with a 4-knot wind at 60 degrees. At 10:10 Eastern Standard Time, air traffic control cleared the aircraft to take off from Runway 20L of DeKalb–Peachtree Airport. Witnesses told the NTSB the take-off path of the aircraft appeared to be normal, but it was trailing smoke when it crossed the airport perimeter. Controllers in the air traffic control tower observed the smoke and radioed the aircraft to notify them.

Witnesses also said they heard two explosive noises, the first as the aircraft "crossed the airport boundary and the second when the aircraft was about halfway between the airport and the crash site." Although most witnesses described the smoke as white or grey, two witnesses said black smoke and flames were visible at the rear of the aircraft. According to witness statements, the aircraft climbed to a height of between 250 ft and 300 ft, before the nose began to rise. One said the aircraft was "wobbling" and another said they thought the aircraft had stalled. The aircraft impacted with the roof of a three-storey apartment building before it crashed into a wooded ravine approximately 250 feet from busy Buford Highway, a major Atlanta road lined with apartments. All five passengers and two crew members were killed in the accident, and an individual on the ground, standing in a parking lot, sustained serious burns from aviation fuel and remained in a critical condition for a day after the accident. The apartment building was damaged, and several parked vehicles destroyed.