Learjet 45 N420FX
22 October 2003 · Denver, Colorado, United States · No injuries
Summary
On 22 October 2003 at about 23:30 local time, a Learjet 45 registered N420FX, operated by Vestar Capital Partners, was involved in an incident near Denver, Colorado, United States. 4 people were on board and nobody was injured. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.
The record
- Date
- at 23:30
- Classification
- Incident
- Location
- Denver, Colorado, United States
- Coordinates
- 39.8586, -104.0669
- Aircraft
- Learjet 45
- Registration
- N420FX
- Category
- Airplane
- Engines
- 2
- Operator
- Vestar Capital Partners
- Operating rule
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Purpose of flight
- Personal
- Phase of flight
- Not recorded
- Route
- Teterburo → Denver
- Aircraft damage
- Not recorded
- Weather
- VMC
- Light
- Day
- NTSB number
- DEN04IA014
People
Nobody was injured.
| On board | Died | Serious | Minor | Uninjured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Probable cause
the failure of the airplane's spoiler system when used as speed brakes due to high resistances in the spoilers' actuator coils.
Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.
Read the full NTSB narrative
The airplane was descending through 13,000 feet when the captain extended both spoilers as speed brakes to reduce the airplane's speed. The left spoiler came up and the right spoiler barely moved, causing the airplane to roll to the left. The pilots saw the amber-colored "Spoiler Fail CAS" light illuminate. The captain retracted the spoilers, rolled the airplane back to a level attitude, and began running the appropriate emergency checklist. The captain continued the descent and landed uneventfully. An examination of the airplane showed high internal resistance in the left and right spoilers' actuator coils. No other anomalies were found.
Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.
Other Learjet 45 accidents
| Date | Aircraft | Location | Operator | Outcome | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Jun 2003 | Learjet 45 | Milan, Italy | Eurojet Italia | Fatal | 2 |
| 13 Aug 2007 | Learjet 45 | Teterboro, New Jersey, United States | - | No injuries | - |
| 5 Nov 2008 | Learjet 45 | Mexico City, Mexico | - | Fatal | 8 |
| 27 Oct 1998 | Learjet 45 | Wallops Island, Virginia, United States | - | Minor injuries | - |
| 25 Jun 2008 | Learjet 45 | Teterboro, New Jersey, United States | - | No injuries | - |
| 3 Jan 2009 | Learjet 45XR | Telluride, Colorado, United States | Aero Jet Services | Minor injuries | - |
Other accidents in this area
| Date | Aircraft | Location | Operator | Outcome | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 Jul 2003 | Aerostar RX-8 | Snowmass Villag, Colorado, United States | - | No injuries | - |
| 13 Mar 2003 | Piper PA-28R-200 | Delta, Colorado, United States | - | No injuries | - |
| 14 Jun 2003 | Beechcraft S35 | Colorado Spring, Colorado, United States | Peter J. Vercouteren | No injuries | - |
| 23 Mar 2003 | Cessna 172S | Erie, Colorado, United States | Specialty Flight Training, Inc. | Minor injuries | - |
| 20 Mar 2003 | Beechcraft E-90 | Kremmling, Colorado, United States | - | Minor injuries | - |
| 17 Jul 2003 | Cessna 172P | Watkins, Colorado, United States | - | No injuries | - |