Accident Details
On February 16, 2005, at approximately 0913 mountain standard time, a Cessna Citation 560, registration N500AT, operated by Martinair, Inc., for Circuit City Stores, Inc., crashed about 4 nautical miles east of Pueblo Memorial Airport, Pueblo, Colorado. The flight was conducting an instrument landing system (ILS) approach to runway 26R.
The two pilots and six passengers on board were killed. The airplane was destroyed by impact forces and a post-crash fire. The flight was operating under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 on an instrument flight rules flight plan. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident.
Probable Cause
The official probable cause was the flight crew's failure to effectively monitor and maintain airspeed and comply with procedures for deice boot activation on the approach, which caused an aerodynamic stall from which they did not recover. Contributing to the accident was the Federal Aviation Administration's failure to establish adequate certification requirements for flight into icing conditions, which led to the inadequate stall warning margin provided by the airplane's stall warning system.