Costruzioni Aeronautiche Tecna P2012 TRAVELLER N833CA accident near Chicago, Illinois

Probable cause

The accident airplane encountered jet blast from a departing Boeing 737.

NTSB analysis

Cape Air’s pilot reported that while waiting to depart, the tower cleared their flight to line up and wait at the N5 intersection, advising “traffic on the roll” on runway 28R. As the accident airplane approached the hold short line, the right wing was lifted, and the right landing gear was raised off the ground causing the left wingtip to contact the ground. Cape Air’s pilot corrected the airplane to a normal attitude, exited the runway at EE intersection and returned to the fixed base operator (FBO). The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left forward wing spar.

Figure 1. Google Earth imagery of the locations of the accident airplane and departing airplane at the time of the upset.

ADS-B data showed the upset occurred about 28 seconds after a preceding Boeing 737 (B737) had crossed the same hold short line. At the time of the upset, shown in Figure 1, the B737 had just completed the turn on to the runway centerline and begun increasing thrust for takeoff.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for DCA22LA131 for the full record.