What happened
During the takeoff phase, a Sport-Jet became momentarily airborne before experiencing an aggressive bank to the left. The aircraft struck the runway in a left-wing-low attitude and proceeded to cartwheel along the runway surface. This event was observed by the pilot, passengers, and several bystanders. An inspection of the aircraft's mechanical and flight systems following the incident showed no signs of malfunction or anomalies.
Findings
Investigators examined the possibility of wake turbulence interference from a De Havilland Dash 8 (DH-8) that had departed the runway approximately 90 seconds prior to the accident. An NTSB performance study determined that the wake vortices from the DH-8 were unlikely to have caused the accident.
Several environmental factors contributed to this conclusion:
- Surface winds from the east were measured at 6 to 7 knots.
- The presence of mountainous terrain near Colorado Springs and higher-altitude winds would have likely dispersed any existing vortices.
- The easterly wind direction would have pushed any remaining wake well to the west of the active runway.
While the study noted that vortices could theoretically produce rolling moments in perfectly smooth air, the investigation concluded that the vortices were neither sufficiently strong nor positioned close enough to the Sport-Jet to trigger the violent leftward roll reported by those on board and on the ground.