Introduction
On July 20, 2024, about 1339 mountain daylight time, a Hawker Beechcraft Corporation Hawker 900XP airplane, N526FC, sustained substantial damage when it was involved in an accident near Telluride, Colorado. The pilot and copilot were uninjured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 positioning flight.
Flight Details
The on-demand air carrier passenger flight had landed earlier to runway 9 at Telluride Regional Airport (TEX) before returning as a positioning flight without passengers to Miami Executive Airport (TMB), Miami, Florida. The pilot, who holds an airline transport pilot certificate, was seated in the front left seat. The copilot, who holds a commercial pilot certificate, was seated in the front right seat.
Departure and Abort
The planned departure runway was runway 27, which has a length of 7,111 ft and a width of 111 ft. Performance calculations performed by the pilot showed that a takeoff roll between 6,800 ft and 6,900 ft would be needed with wing flaps set to 15°. At departure, about 1,253 gallons of Jet A fuel were onboard. During the takeoff roll on the dry asphalt, the airplane did not attain 75% of the planned takeoff speed about halfway down the runway, so the pilot decided to abort. Brakes, air brakes, and thrust reversers were utilized, but the airplane did not slow. Maximum braking was then applied, and the airplane began to depart the runway to the right. It traveled over the engineered material arresting system (EMAS) and came to rest upright about 150 ft from the runway threshold. The EMAS, which has a length of 292 ft and a width of 122 ft, sustained damage from the runway excursion.
Post-Accident Actions
After the airplane came to rest partially on the EMAS and partially on a grass field, the pilot attempted to stop the two turbofan engines by closing the high pressure and low pressure controls for fuel flow, but the engines continued to operate. Airport personnel disconnected the airplane batteries to stop the engines, without success. The engines finally ceased operation when manual control of the fuel control unit was utilized by the pilot. The pilot and copilot egressed from the main cabin door, located on the front left side of the fuselage, without incident. After exiting, the pilot saw that the wing flaps were fully retracted and not extended to 15°.
Damage and Recovery
The airplane sustained substantial damage to the lower fuselage. It was recovered from the accident site and transported to a secure location for a future examination. The airplane was equipped with two Honeywell TFE731-50R turbofan engines, each with Honeywell Digital Electronic Engine Control units, and a cockpit voice recorder. A search revealed no Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast data for the departure from runway 27.
Environmental Factors
The airport is located at 9,069 ft above mean sea level in mountainous terrain, in the San Juan Mountains. At the time of the accident, the estimated density altitude for the closest meteorological reporting station (at TEX) was 11,081 ft above mean sea level. Video footage from an Automated Weather Observing System camera (located north of the sole runway) showed an extended windsock with an easterly wind during the takeoff and subsequent abort. The airport, on a 1,000 ft mesa with rising terrain on all quadrants, had operational restrictions: recommended takeoff on runway 27, land on runway 9, and avoid populated areas. Runway 09/27 gradient was -0.08 on runway ends, -1.3 to approximately midpoint then +0.75.
Probable Cause
[None stated]