After departing from Concord, North Carolina on October 24, 2004, a business aviation aircraft, a Beech King Air 200 operated by Hendrick Motorsports failed to perform a proper approach into Martinsville, Virginia Airport. The meteorological data through the duration of that flight had been determined that warm weather had caused low visibility environment with heavy fog and vapor. While navigating through these conditions, the aircraft fatally crashed approximately 10 miles from their destination into a mountain region called Bull Mountain in Stuart, Virginia (LOWE). This small flight took the lives of 2 crew members and 8 passengers that were determined to have been killed upon impact and conditions resulting from the aftermath of the crash.
In the flight details, during the first descent into their destination at MTV Airport, they were flying at an altitude too high for the approach from the LOM, or “locator outer marker,” a radar beacon used for navigation to determine the …show more content…
The pilot had received permission to start the descent towards the airport after completing the leg of their holding and but continued to maintain an altitude of 1,400 ft. The location of the aircrafts approach was said to have been out of placement by over 4nm and as a result of this, the pilot was navigating the plane off of its initially determined course. The altitude they were proceeding at was under the radar specifications, eliminating the use of this navigation tool, as well as the air traffic controller losing contact with the aircraft. A Bendix/King KLN 90B GPS was being utilized in the cockpit of the aircraft and may have been relying on this unit as opposed to the proper procedures followed by FAA regulations, consisting of an automatic direction finder, and the DME
In the flight details, during the first descent into their destination at MTV Airport, they were flying at an altitude too high for the approach from the LOM, or “locator outer marker,” a radar beacon used for navigation to determine the …show more content…
The pilot had received permission to start the descent towards the airport after completing the leg of their holding and but continued to maintain an altitude of 1,400 ft. The location of the aircrafts approach was said to have been out of placement by over 4nm and as a result of this, the pilot was navigating the plane off of its initially determined course. The altitude they were proceeding at was under the radar specifications, eliminating the use of this navigation tool, as well as the air traffic controller losing contact with the aircraft. A Bendix/King KLN 90B GPS was being utilized in the cockpit of the aircraft and may have been relying on this unit as opposed to the proper procedures followed by FAA regulations, consisting of an automatic direction finder, and the DME