Raytheon Aircraft Company C90A N800MK accident near Houston, Mississippi

Probable cause

The pilot’s failure to maintain a stabilized approach and his subsequent failure to maintain airplane control during the landing flare, which resulted in touchdown off the side of the runway and collision with a ditch.

NTSB analysis

The pilot reported that he was at the controls during the approach and landing. He stated that, just before touchdown, the right wing "rose severely" and that the copilot called out "windshear" and "go around." As he applied power, the airplane rolled left again, so he retarded the throttles. The airplane subsequently settled into the grass to the left side of the runway and then struck a ditch, spun around, and came to rest upright. The airplane was substantially damaged due to the impact and a postaccident fire. The copilot reported that it felt like the wind was trying to "lift the tail and cartwheel them over."

The airport did not have weather reporting capability; however, surrounding airports reported light wind with no gusts, and no windshear was reported. A review of weather radar and geostationary weather satellite data for the accident region did not identify any convective or gust-front activity, and a review of National Weather Service data did not identify the presence of, or conditions conducive to, ground-level windshear for the accident region at the time of the accident.

A review of the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) transcript revealed that, although the copilot called out "go around," he did not mention windshear or any other weather phenomena at any time during the approach or accident sequence. Based on the conversation between the pilots recorded on the CVR, the approach was probably unstable for a period of time before landing. The CVR transcript also revealed that the more experienced copilot provided a significant amount of "coaching" during the approach; however, it could not be determined what effect this might have had on the pilot's performance.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for ERA14LA312 for the full record.