Cessna runway overrun at Angelina County Airport-Final report released
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released its final report on the Angelina County Airport accident that happened on December 2, 2020. On that date, a Cessna 551 Citation II/SP aircraft with 3 people on board experienced substantial damage after overshooting the runway, striking a fence, and eventually coming to rest in a nearby field. No one was seriously injured, only one of the 3 people on board had minor injuries.
How the accident happened?
The aircraft registered N48DK took off from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport bound for Angelina County Airport in Lufkin, Texas with 3 people on board, two passengers and a pilot. The entire flight proceeded normally without incident until landing. In rainy and wet runway conditions, the aircraft touched down on runway 16 approximately 1,000 ft from the approach end of it, leaving about 3,311 ft to stop.
The braking procedure was normal at first, the anti-skid system was activated twice before it stopped working and the pilot was unsuccessful in stopping the aircraft using the emergency brakes. The plane continued to slide until it overshot the entire runway, went through a fence, and came to an immediate stop in the field.
Following the incident, the nose and the main landing gear collapsed and the wings of the aircraft suffered structural damage.
What was the cause of the accident?
The NTSB concluded that the main cause of the accident was the pilot’s error in deciding to land on a runway that did not provide sufficient length to land safely in wet runway conditions. In the post-accident analysis, it was determined that for the aircraft in question to land safely under the given conditions it needed a length of 4,127 ft, whereas at the time of the accident, it had only 3,311 ft of runway to stop on. The pilot was aware of the weather conditions and the length of the runway he was to land on and later reported that he should not have accepted the trip.
NTSB Docket Information: https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket?ProjectID=102361
