Execuflight Flight 1526

Execuflight Flight 1526 was a domestic charter flight from Dayton to Akron, Ohio. On approach it lost airspeed until it stalled and hit a building. There were no casualties on the ground, but the 9 occupants were killed.

Execuflight Flight 1526

N237WR, the aircraft involved
Accident
Date	10 November 2015 (2015-11-10)
Summary	Stall on approach, pilot error
Site	Akron, Ohio, United States
Aircraft
Aircraft type	British Aerospace BAe-125-700A
Operator	Execuflight
Registration	N237WR
Flight origin	Dayton-Wright Brothers Airport, Ohio
Destination	Akron Executive Airport, Ohio
Occupants	9
Passengers	7
Crew	2
Fatalities	9
Survivors	0

Background

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was a British Aerospace BAe-125-700A, MSN 257072, registered as N237WR, which was manufactured by British Aerospace in 1979. The aircraft was equipped with two Garrett TFE731-3-1H engines.

Crew

The crew consisted of 40-year-old Colombian Captain Oscar Chávez and 50-year-old Italian First officer Renato Marchese. There were no flight attendants on the flight. The flight captain had been with the airline since June 4, 2015. His cumulative flight experience was 6,170 hours, of which he had flown 3,414 hours as pilot-in-command. He had 1,020 hours of flight experience with the crash plane, of which he had completed 670 hours as pilot-in-command. The first officer was hired by Execuflight on June 1, 2015. He had 4,382 hours of flying experience, 3,200 of which he had served as pilot-in-command. His flight experience with aircraft of the accident type amounted to 482 hours, which he had completed entirely in the position of first officer.

Accident

During approach the pilots noticed that the weather conditions were much worse than anticipated, the first officer, whose job it should have been to conduct the approach briefing, asked the captain to do so. The pilots then discussed an approach to runway 25. Indianapolis Air Traffic Control instructed the aircraft to fly over the "HUUVR" crossing at an altitude of 9,000 feet and contact air traffic control in Cleveland. The pilots then continued to discuss the approach to runway 25. As they did this and the aircraft descended to 13,500 feet, a passenger entered the cockpit to speak with the pilots. The flight captain informed the passenger that he could stay for a few minutes, but then he would have to leave.

As the business jet approached Akron, its pilots were instructed to slow down the approach, as a small Piper PA-28-161 aircraft was supposed to land on the same runway. The crew of the BAe-125 was instructed to change course, slow down, and remain at an altitude of 3,000 feet. After landing, the Piper's crew reported that the cloud cover had broken in the conditions of minimal visibility. The crew was instructed to descend further, but failed to do so. To correct this, the first officer started increasing the descent rate and slowing the plane down, almost 20 knots below the normal airspeed. The descent rate reached 2000 feet per minute, twice the usual rate. The captain voiced his concerns on these matters but did not take action.

About 14 seconds after the minimum altitude of 500 feet was reached the airspeed had already decayed to 98 knots. When the crew started levelling off the aircraft stalled and banked sharply to the left before crashing into a four-apartment building 3,200 meters from the runway threshold at 2:53 P.M. and catching fire. The aircraft was completely destroyed by the impact and fire. All seven passengers and two crew members died in the crash. The house burned to the ground, but there were no injuries there.

The building struck by the plane after burning down

The wreckage of flight 1526 lying on a hill past the building

Investigation

A review of the training records of the two pilots revealed that the captain had been fired by his previous employer after failing to show up for training. The first officer had also been fired by his last employer due to his poor performance in training. The president of Execuflight stated that he was aware of the shortcomings of the two pilots, but had decided to hire them. The captain had been hired because of his extensive experience with the BAe-125 and after the president had become convinced of his flight performance in the course of test flights conducted prior to the engagement. The first officer was hired on the basis of a recommendation from an airline pilot, also in this case a test flight was used to examine his flight performance. No effort was made to contact the pilots' previous employers and inquire about their specific deficits.

The NTSB determined that the probable cause of the accident is:

The flight crew's mismanagement of the approach and multiple deviations from company SOPs, which placed the airplane in an unsafe situation and led to an unstabilized approach, a descent below MDA without visual contact with the runway environment, and an aerodynamic stall. Contributing to the accident were Execuflight's casual attitude toward compliance with standards; its inadequate hiring, training, and operational oversight of the flight crew; the company's lack of a formal safety program; and the FAA's insufficient oversight of the company's training program and flight operations.

— NTSB

Dramatization

The accident was featured in the second episode of Season 21 of Mayday. The episode is titled "Playing Catch Up".