History of Flight
On January 12, 2019, about 1130 central standard time, a Canadair CL-600-2A12 airplane, registered N813WT, impacted terrain following a runway excursion at the Ox Ranch Airport (01TX) in Uvalde, Texas. The flight crew consisted of a pilot, copilot, and flight attendant, along with six passengers; none were injured. The airplane sustained substantial damage. The flight was conducted under Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a corporate flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and an instrument flight rules flight plan was filed.
The flight originated from Fort Worth Meacham International Airport (FTW) around 1030, destined for 01TX, carrying passengers for a day of activities at the Ox Ranch. After departing FTW, the flight proceeded southwest. Houston Air Route Traffic Control Center cleared the airplane to flight level 280. After leveling off, the crew checked weather at Uvalde (UVA) and Laughlin (DLF), Texas. UVA reported wind from 290° at 13 knots, gusting to 20 knots; DLF reported wind from 350° at 12 knots, gusting to 18 knots. Based on this, the pilot planned a visual approach to runway 35 at 01TX.
Approaching Uvalde, ARTCC cleared the airplane to descend to 4,000 ft. After leveling off, the crew canceled IFR clearance and proceeded visually. The pilot flew over the runway and entered a left downwind visual traffic pattern to check for animals on the runway and to observe the windsock; the windsock was not seen. No animals were on the runway, but the air was turbulent.
The flight crew announced downwind and base legs on the airport's common frequency. On base leg, the pilot had the copilot set flaps to 30°. During the turn to final, the copilot lowered the landing gear. At 4.5 miles from the runway end, at 2,500 ft above ground level and 170 knots, the copilot completed the before-landing checklist. The pilot confirmed thrust reversers were armed and called for flaps to 45°. At 2 miles, the pilot checked approach speed and landing gear down.
The pilot reported turbulence and wind gusts from hills below and to the west. Passing 50 ft over the runway, he reduced engine power to idle. The pilot then encountered a windshear; airspeed dropped rapidly, and the airplane was forced down to the runway. He unlocked thrust reversers, applied brakes, and reached for ground spoilers. During thrust reverser deployment, the pilot felt the right landing gear collapse. He applied full nose-left rudder and left-wing-down aileron, but the airplane veered right. Using the tiller to steer left yielded no response. The airplane exited the runway into grass.
An airport representative reported a hard landing. About two-thirds down runway 35, the airplane slid off the right side, crossed a ditch, and struck a perimeter fence before stopping.
Meteorological Information
Weather conditions in the Uvalde area showed surface winds from the north to northwest at 15 knots, gusting to 20 knots. There was potential for turbulence and wind shear below 5,000 ft, but no direct observations confirmed this. The National Weather Service area forecast discussion for 1200 called for northwesterly winds at 10 to 17 knots with a few higher gusts in the afternoon for the Hill Country and Central Texas.
Wreckage and Impact Information
The airplane wreckage came to rest upright in a field near a dirt service road on airport property, about 2,100 ft east of runway 35, oriented on a 170° heading. Two sets of parallel skid marks in the dirt preceded the airplane, starting about 1,600 ft from the runway threshold and curving to the airplane. A three-inch-wide, two-inch-deep, 1,500-ft-long gouge in the runway asphalt began 53 ft from the threshold and ran parallel to the right side, ending where the airplane departed the runway.
The airplane was intact, resting on the right wing, left main landing gear, and nose section beneath the flight deck. Airport perimeter fence was embedded in the vertical fin leading to the vertical stabilizer. The right main landing gear was broken aft and collapsed under the right wing, remaining attached at the main gear side strut retraction actuator. The right winglet and leading edge of the right wing showed impact damage along their spans. The trailing edge of the right wing and spar structure at the right main landing gear wheel well were bent and broken upward. The inboard portion of the right inboard flap was broken upward at the wing root. A black rubber mark corresponding to the tread of the right main landing gear outboard tire was found smeared on the underside of the broken inboard flap piece.
The nose landing gear was twisted sideways 90°, collapsed aft and upward, and pressed into the underside of the nose landing gear wheel well, right nose wheel well door, and the underside of the fuselage left of the nose gear wheel well.
The pilot's number one windshield outer pane was shattered from impact. Numerous scratches on the forward fuselage began at the nose and ran horizontally along the right side and top. The fin forward of the vertical stabilizer was broken aft; the leading edge of the vertical stabilizer was bent and broken aft at the fuselage. A length of metal mesh fencing was embedded at the base of the vertical fin and trailed toward the right side.
Tests and Research
An audition of the cockpit voice recorder on April 1, 2019, found the tape broken; no data from the accident flight was retrieved.
Examination of the airplane revealed the right wing landing gear trunnion fitting broke at the upper flange and web in the plane of the aft lug, causing the pintle pin to disengage from the aft and forward supporting lugs. Failure analysis of the trunnion fitting pieces was consistent with overload failure patterns from a hard landing.
Data from the enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS) from the accident flight showed the windshear alerting function was disabled. The takeoff time was 5644:14:15; the landing record was created 46 minutes and 49 seconds later at 5645:01:04. Five seconds earlier, at 5644:59:49, the unit issued a terrain awareness caution. According to the manufacturer, at 5645:01:04, the airplane was 50 ft above ground level over the runway threshold, with a calibrated airspeed of 123.6 knots, a groundspeed of 114 knots, and an altitude rate of -1,257 ft per minute. One second later, the altitude rate was -1,391 ft per minute, and another second later, it was 80 ft per minute. Over those three seconds, the radar altitude went from 48 ft to 13.5 ft above ground level.