At 1700 P.s.t., on January 6, 1977, a Gates Learjet LR24B, N12MK, crashed in the mountains about 22 miles northwest of Palm Springs, California, at an elevation of about 9,700 feet m.s.l. The aircraft had departed Palm Springs Municipal Airport about 5 minutes earlier and was en route to Las Vegas, Nevada. The flight was operating in instrument meteorological conditions when the accident occurred. The aircraft was on an IFR clearance from Palm Springs, direct Twenty-nine Palms, and thence via the flight plan route. After takeoff from runway 30 the pilot did not turn toward Twenty-nine Palms as cleared, but maintained runway heading until crashing into the mountainside. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the accident was the flightcrew's misinterpretation of the instrument flight rules clearance, and subsequent ATC instructions issued by the Palm Springs Departure Control. Contributing to the accident was the controller's failure to detect the aircraft's deviation from the route of flight contained in the ATC clearance and the flightcrew's failure to recognize their proximity to the high terrain.
Aircraft Accident Report - Jet Avia, Ltd. Learjet, LR24B, N12MK, Palm Springs, California, January 6, 1977
1977
34 pages
Report
No indication
English
Air Transportation , Transportation Safety , Aeronautics , Aviation accidents , Accident investigations , Takeoff , Instrument flight , Pilots , Air traffic controllers , Failure , Flight paths , Aircraft collisions , Passenger aircraft , Mountains , Casualties , California , Learjet 24 aircraft , Light aircraft , Palm Springs(California)
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