Tutti
← Back to Squawk list
Aspen Challenger Jet crash captured on video
Airport surveillance video has been released that captured the crash of the Challenger Jet at Aspen on January 5th. (vimeo.com) Altro...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
I have a question. I'm only 16 but is there only one direction to land at aspen? Because the approach looked very fast and he was landing with the wind. This also means there could've been windshear. Is it not possible to land on that particular runway going the other way? Because isn't it common logic to land going into the wind?
Good question. I had the same question immediately upon hearing about the accident. My suspicion about the need to land in that particular direction were later confirmed.
There's a huge mountain on the other end of the runway. So yeah, they are pretty much restricted in landing from and taking off from the one end. Even on the side that's used for flight operations, you can see quite a bit of fairly steep mountainous terrain. Still it's the better option.
There's a huge mountain on the other end of the runway. So yeah, they are pretty much restricted in landing from and taking off from the one end. Even on the side that's used for flight operations, you can see quite a bit of fairly steep mountainous terrain. Still it's the better option.
Quickie? Aspen (KASE) has one runway (15/33). Rapid change in elev and town of Aspen to south [Google Earth to explore terrain/alt.]. Aspenairport.com has rather detailed operating procedures 'and' noise abatement plan. Copy/pasted: "Meteorological conditions permitting, use Runway 15 for all landings. NOTE: Using Runway 33 necessitates a high approach without overflying the town of Aspen". No noisy night flights here either! So large population of skiers who don't like noisy planes bringing in more skiers can be found on mountainous terrain south of rwy 33? This may shed light on desire for rwy 15. This approach appears to be safer (elev), skier friendlier (quieter), and overall 'preferred'. Sounds to me like hot/fast landings are fairly common.
N535PC Learjet 35A Feb 13 1991 crashed r/w 15 3 dead
XA-ICA Learjet 60 Jan 6 1996 overrun landing r/w 15 crew survived
N303GA Gulfstream III Mar 29 2001 18 dead crash landing r/w 15
N500SW Learjet 60 Jun 7 2012 went off side of runway - all survived
N115WF Challenger 601 Jan 5 2014 1 dead landing r/w 15
XA-ICA Learjet 60 Jan 6 1996 overrun landing r/w 15 crew survived
N303GA Gulfstream III Mar 29 2001 18 dead crash landing r/w 15
N500SW Learjet 60 Jun 7 2012 went off side of runway - all survived
N115WF Challenger 601 Jan 5 2014 1 dead landing r/w 15
There is a lot more to this than simple runway preference. Watching media coverage of this event and making inferences is foolish and I am guilty. The way I have this pictured in my mind is not close to the reality. This is not a sleepy airport with bored ATC like mine is. This is Aspen during ski season. The airport is hopping with plenty of traffic, metal and comm. There are planes lined up for departure on 33 and a stream of arrivals on 15. There are also wind shear issues. You can listen to archived ATC on LiveATC.net. I joined this forum because I saw something in the IR camera video that no one mentioned in media or online. I didn't see a busy airport, other traffic, or pireps. This accident did not occur in the vacuum of my mind! I will say one thing with certainty before I crawl back under my rock, 'I've learned a lot about flying into Aspen'.
I watched the videos earlier today - took me a few minutes to recover after watching them.
Captain is still in critical condition, the passenger was released from the hospital in Colorado - not sure if he was flown to a Mexican hospital or home?
RIP condolences again to the co-pilot - NTSB has stated investigation final report should be released in 18 months.
Captain is still in critical condition, the passenger was released from the hospital in Colorado - not sure if he was flown to a Mexican hospital or home?
RIP condolences again to the co-pilot - NTSB has stated investigation final report should be released in 18 months.