Overview
- The Hawker 800XP had undergone months of maintenance in Battle Creek, where cracks and corrosion on a leading edge triggered a required stall check before it could return to service.
- Maintenance provider Duncan Aviation advised hiring an experienced test pilot and gave the captain contact options, but the regular crew could not arrange one and decided to conduct the stall test themselves.
- The jet departed at 5:08 p.m. and about 5:27 p.m. entered a rapid descent, with the crew transmitting, “we are in a… in a stall, recovering, sorry,” before the crash and post-impact fire.
- Public tracking data indicated descent rates reaching about 24,000 feet per minute, and bystander video showed the aircraft corkscrewing toward the ground.
- The NTSB is testing the recovered voice recorder and reviewing maintenance and test procedures, noting similar prior cases, with a final determination expected in roughly a year.