What happened
During an international charter flight, a crew and five passengers were operating a twin-engine jet toward a destination airport. Prior to arrival, the flight crew had prepared an alternate airport due to previously marginal weather conditions. As the aircraft approached the non-towered airport, updated weather reports suggested conditions had improved. During communications with the center controller, the crew confirmed they had current weather but did not explicitly confirm receipt of NOTAM information. The controller provided a descent heading and sequencing instructions without providing updated NOTAMs.
Shortly after this exchange, airport staff issued an electronic NOTAM closing the runway for snow removal. While this information was routed to the controller, the system did not trigger an automatic alert, requiring the controller to manually check a specific display screen. Due to a heavy workload, the controller cleared the aircraft for its approach approximately eight minutes after the closure notice was issued.
Upon seeing the destination airport, the crew canceled their instrument flight plan. However, the crew did not monitor or transmit on the airport's common traffic advisory frequency, which was being monitored by ground personnel. During the landing phase, the twin-engine jet struck a snow removal vehicle near the middle of the runway. The crew reported that the vehicle was not visible to them prior to the impact. The accident resulted in no fatalities, though the collision occurred during the landing roll.
Findings
Investigations into the collision highlighted several contributing factors. A primary issue was the controller's failure to recognize the new NOTAM due to equipment limitations that lacked automatic alerting and high controller workload. Furthermore, the lack of communication from the flight crew on the common traffic advisory frequency prevented coordination with ground personnel. The incident also underscored the risks associated with critical information changes occurring while an aircraft is en route.