Jet skids off runway at North Central
Private aircraft crashes after overshooting landing area, passengers escape unscathed
LINCOLN — Six people in a private business jet landing at North Central State Airport Thursday morning escaped serious harm when the pilot could not stop the aircraft and overshot the paved runway before coming to a stop on its sloping northern end.
State Police Lt. Derek Borek of the Lincoln Barracks said state troopers responded to a 911 call for the 10:40 a.m. runaway accident and found all the passengers uninjured and safely evacuated from the two-engine Cessna jet.
“All were able to exit the plane on their own power,” Borek said.
State Police conducted an initial investigation and checked for injuries while responding rescue personnel from Smithfield and Lincoln were on scene and then turned the investigation over to state and federal aviation investigators, Borek said. Most of North Central lies in Smithfield but its main runway, Runway No. 5, ends in Lincoln.
Initial indications were that the jet overshot the runaway but determining how that occurred would be handled by the aviation investigators, according to the Trooper.
“They were landing and overshot the runway and there may have been some sort of a mechanical problem,” Borek said.
Jim Warcup, state aviation inspector for the Rhode Island Airport Corporation, said the privately-owned Cessna Citation jet was on a business trip out of Allegheny County Airport in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, and was landing when the pilot owner experienced problems stopping the plane.
“The pilot-owner was very experienced and he was able to maneuver the aircraft and come to a stop about 200 feet off the runaway,” Warcup said.
“There were six people aboard and everyone was able to walk away without injuries,” he added.
The occupants of the plane included the pilot-owner, an experienced co-pilot and four passengers, Warcup said. The occupants were not being identified as Federal Aviation Administration officials responding to North Central on Thursday conducted their investigation of the incident. The National Transportation and Safety Board will also issue a report on its finding regarding the incident at a later date, he said.
Allegheny County Airport is located about four miles from Pittsburg in Pennsylvania. The Cessna Citation CJ3 is listed in tail number registries as owned by AR Wings LLC out of Seven Fields, Pennsylvania. The registration information shows the Cessna to be an eight-passenger commuter jet made in 2014. The planes are reported to cost more than $8 million new and $4 million, and up, used.
Warcup said the business jet, made by a subsidiary of Rhode Island-based Textron, suffered significant visible damage to its front nose wheel, which collapsed, and also to a section of its left wing from the accident. The plane’s path off the runaway brought it in contact with a localizer antenna, a piece of navigation equipment, at the end of the runway before it stopped partially down an abutting grassy vegetated slope. The antenna also sustained damage as a result of the contact.
The incident resulted in a temporary closing of the airport while the initial investigation was conducted, Warcup said. The airport’s second runway, No. 15 and also known as the crosswind runway, was eventually opened to handle traffic. The main runway, No. 5, was expected to reopen when the FAA investigators completed their work later on Thursday, according to Warcup.
How the aircraft is to be removed from its present location will be determined by its insurance company and the salvage agency it hires to do the work, according to Warcup.
The project could be conducted as soon as today, or at a later date depending on the requirements of preventing any additional damage to the plane if it is to be restored to a flying status, according to Warcup.
The main runaway would again be closed to air traffic while the removal operation is conducted, he said.
A small amount of aircraft fluids leaked from the plane after it came to a stop on the slope. The materials were cleaned up with the assistance of the state Department of Environmental Management which Warcup said also sent staff members to the scene.
Given the possibility of a more serious outcome from the incident, Warcup said it was fortunate it ended without any injuries occurring. “My hat is off to the pilot. He did a good job and six people walked away from the plane unhurt,” he said.