Hawker Beechcraft Corp G36 N979BA accident near West Caldwell, New Jersey

Probable cause

The pilot’s failure to maintain airplane control after takeoff, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall.

NTSB analysis

The pilot filed an instrument flight rules flight plan and departed from the airport. After takeoff, air traffic controllers observed the airplane “barely climbing,” in a left turn, and leveling off well below the pilot’s assigned altitude of 3,000 ft mean sea level. The cloud ceiling was at 900 ft above ground level (agl) at the time, and the pilot did not enter instrument meteorological conditions after taking off. The airplane only reached about 400 ft agl before it began to descend. The airplane then struck the roof of a warehouse with its left wing, impacted terrain in a nose-low attitude while rotating to the left, and contacted the ground about 0.5 miles from the departure end of the runway. A fire then erupted. The pilot was seriously injured and the airplane was destroyed.

Following the accident, the pilot stated to police officers that during his climbout, the airplane would no longer gain altitude, “wouldn’t pull up,” and began to lose altitude. He stated that he had no warning lights or audible alerts, that the engine was running normally, and that he was attempting to return to the airport. He did not provide any additional statements or other information about the flight.

An annual inspection of the airplane had been completed 5 days before the accident with no unresolved discrepancies noted. Postaccident examination and testing did not reveal evidence of any preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions of the airplane or engine that would have precluded normal operation. Examination of the wreckage and security camera video revealed that the flaps were up and the landing gear had not been retracted after a positive rate of climb was established after rotation. The airplane would have had trouble accelerating with the landing gear in the down position, which may have degraded its ability to climb normally.

The airplane was equipped with a stall warning horn that would sound as the airplane approached an aerodynamic stall. Review of recorded air traffic control audio transmissions from the airplane revealed the presence of the stall warning horn during the pilot’s transmissions for about 13 seconds before impact. This indicated that the pilot likely did not recognize the impending stall and did not reduce the angle of attack immediately to retain or regain control of the airplane, which allowed the airplane to approach and then exceed the critical angle of attack and resulted in the airplane entering an uncontrolled descent.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for ERA17LA092 for the full record.