What happened
During a local training mission at Fort Worth-Greater Southwest (Amon Carter Field) Airport, an aircraft carrying four pilots—comprising three company employees and one FAA pilot—experienced a sudden loss of control. While performing a standard approach to runway 13, the plane crossed the runway threshold when it began oscillating laterally between left and right rolls. This instability caused the right wing to make contact with the runway surface. The aircraft subsequently lost all stability, rolled toward the right, and impacted the ground, resulting in a post-crash fire. There were four fatalities among the crew.
Findings
Investigations determined that the accident was triggered by an encounter with a trailing vortex left behind by a previously departing heavy jet aircraft. This interaction led to an involuntary loss of control during the final approach phase. Although the flight crew had been advised to anticipate turbulence, they lacked the specific data required to properly assess the severity or the exact position of the wake turbulence. Furthermore, it was noted that existing FAA protocols for managing VFR flights at the time did not offer the same level of protection against vortex encounters as the radar-based vectors provided to IFR or VFR flights.