The crew of of a commuter plane made fatal mistakes in a crash that claimed 13 lives in northeast Missouri and federal investigators say their jovial mood was partly to blame.
Corporate Airlines Flight 5966, a twin-engine turboprop, clipped treetops and stalled before crashing in a field one mile short of the runway at Kirksville Regional Airport, killing both pilots and 11 of 13 passengers aboard the night of Oct 19, 2004.
The National Transportation Safety Board ruled Tuesday that the pilot and co-pilot failed to follow established procedures for landing at night without precision instruments and descended too low without being able to see the ground clearly.
A steady stream of inappropriate jokes, quips and expletive-filled comments throughout the flight suggested a lack of cockpit discipline, NTSB officials said. Pilot fatigue after a 14 1/2-hour day also played a role in their "degraded performance" the agency found.
"What we saw was a breakdown in discipline," said NTSB Acting Chairman Mark Rosenker. He said all the joking was unprofessional, distracted the crew and made it more likely they would make mistakes.
The crew had little warning of any problems until the final seconds of the flight, according to a transcript of the cockpit voice recorder. The pilot, Capt. Kim Sasse, 48, focused too much on looking outside the cockpit window instead of monitoring flight instruments as the plane approached the runway under limited visibility, the board said.
Forbes
NTSB
Corporate Airlines Flight 5966, a twin-engine turboprop, clipped treetops and stalled before crashing in a field one mile short of the runway at Kirksville Regional Airport, killing both pilots and 11 of 13 passengers aboard the night of Oct 19, 2004.
The National Transportation Safety Board ruled Tuesday that the pilot and co-pilot failed to follow established procedures for landing at night without precision instruments and descended too low without being able to see the ground clearly.
A steady stream of inappropriate jokes, quips and expletive-filled comments throughout the flight suggested a lack of cockpit discipline, NTSB officials said. Pilot fatigue after a 14 1/2-hour day also played a role in their "degraded performance" the agency found.
"What we saw was a breakdown in discipline," said NTSB Acting Chairman Mark Rosenker. He said all the joking was unprofessional, distracted the crew and made it more likely they would make mistakes.
The crew had little warning of any problems until the final seconds of the flight, according to a transcript of the cockpit voice recorder. The pilot, Capt. Kim Sasse, 48, focused too much on looking outside the cockpit window instead of monitoring flight instruments as the plane approached the runway under limited visibility, the board said.
Forbes
NTSB
