Passenger at the Controls… Then Disaster

A routine business jet flight turns into a crisis when an unqualified passenger takes control, causing engine shutdown and a challenging emergency landing.

Key Takeaways

Allowing unqualified passengers to control aircraft can lead to catastrophic outcomes.
Proper type rating and experience are critical for handling turbine-powered business jets.
Manual thrust management is challenging and requires precise coordination without auto throttle.
Emergency procedures and checklist discipline are vital under high-stress situations.
Communication with air traffic control is essential during in-flight emergencies.

What the video covers

On March 17, 2013, a Hawker Beechcraft Premier IA business jet was flying from Tulsa, Oklahoma to South Bend, Indiana with one pilot and three passengers.
One passenger, a private pilot but not type rated for this jet, was allowed to manipulate controls during descent under the owner's supervision.
The aircraft had no auto throttle system, requiring manual thrust management to maintain speed during descent.
The passenger pilot struggled to control speed, causing overspeed warnings and unsafe flight conditions.
Both engines were inadvertently shut down during the descent, leading to an emergency situation.
The crew attempted to restart the engines but failed due to missed ignition steps under pressure.
Without electrical or hydraulic power, the landing gear could not be extended normally; only the nose gear was deployed.
Air traffic control guided the pilots for an emergency approach and landing at South Bend Airport.
The pilots decided to land with only the nose gear extended, managing a difficult and risky landing.
The incident highlights the dangers of allowing unqualified individuals to control complex aircraft systems.

Chapters

Why was the passenger allowed to control the aircraft during descent?

The passenger was a private pilot and friend of the owner pilot, who was coaching him through aircraft systems and controls during the flight, despite the passenger not being type rated or qualified on this jet.

What caused both engines to shut down during the flight?

The passenger pilot manipulated the thrust levers incorrectly during descent, leading to engine flameout. Under pressure, the pilots failed to properly restart the engines by not switching the ignition on.

How did the pilots manage the landing with only the nose gear extended?

With hydraulic and electrical power lost, the main landing gear could not be extended normally. The pilots decided to land with only the nose gear down, carefully controlling the approach and touchdown to minimize damage.

Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

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On the 17th of March, 2013, a business jet carrying four people was descending towards South Bend, Indiana, on what should have been a completely routine arrival. However, with the passenger at the controls, both engines were shut down, leading to a highly stressful event and a result I can't quite believe. You are not going to want to miss this one.

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On the 17th of March, 2013, a Hawker Beechcraft model 390, also known as a Premier IA, carrying the registration November 26 Delta Kilo, was due to depart Richard Lloyd Jones Jr.

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Airport in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for South Bend Airport in South Bend, Indiana. The short flight would take around 2 hours and 10 minutes.

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The aircraft was to be flown single pilot with three passengers. It's worth noting that while there were three passengers, one of them had a private pilot certificate and would be sitting up the front with the pilot during the

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trip. This plays a major part in this event and more on this later. The aircraft itself was fairly new, produced in 2008 with only 457 hours on both the airframe and the two Williams International turbofan engines.

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This aircraft has a maximum takeoff weight of 12,500 lb. So, to give a sense of scale, a King Air 350 has a maximum takeoff weight of 15,000 lb.

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If that doesn't help, it's a smaller aircraft that is designed for six to seven passengers and has a range of 1,500 nautical miles.

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They were scheduled for takeoff at 1400 Eastern Daylight Time. And as mentioned earlier, the crew and passengers were split across the aircraft.

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In the left seat was the owner pilot, a 58-year-old private pilot with single and multi-engine land certificates and instrument rating. He obtained his license only 2 years earlier. He held the required type rating for the aircraft, meaning he was legally

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permitted to operate it. But his experience was limited. His total flight time was just over 600 hours and only around 170 of those hours were in this particular aircraft.

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Just to the right of the pilot was the 60-year-old private pilot passenger sat in the right-hand seat in the flight deck. He was reported to be a friend of the pilot and was not employed as a pilot for this flight and did not have

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an official role on the aircraft. He was there purely as a passenger. He did have a total of 1,877 flying hours, but there was no record of him having any experience in turbine-powered business jets and he was not type rated to this aircraft.

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This is important to know as although he is a qualified pilot, he was not qualified to fly this aircraft and did not have experience on similar jets.

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With everyone strapped in and the checks complete at 13:56, they were cleared for takeoff.

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After takeoff, they were eventually cleared to climb to 41,000 ft or flight level 410.

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And once there, they cruised smoothly towards Indiana. Air traffic control communications were uneventful. The aircraft was performing and nothing suggested that anything was going to go wrong.

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In the flight deck, however, it tells a different story. The cockpit voice recorder was listening during the flight.

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Whilst in the cruise, the owner pilot began explaining the aircraft systems, demonstrating the flight management computer, discussing fuel planning, weight limitations, and descent techniques. So much so that the pilot passenger stated, "A lot of stuff to learn." Now, this isn't unusual and is

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something I would encourage. During non-critical stages of flight, talking about aircraft systems, procedures, and tactics keeps the pilots engaged, challenges their knowledge, and encourages further what-if questions.

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Building loose plans on what to do in hypothetical situations. I do this regularly and I think it's a good thing.

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The part when it isn't as good is slightly later on when the passenger pilot is encouraged and coached through manipulating the controls, which leads to a catastrophic result.

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At 15:52, the pilots checked in with Chicago air route traffic control center and were subsequently cleared to descend to flight level 240 or 24,000 ft from their cruising altitude of 41,000 ft.

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After receiving the clearance, he discussed with the passenger on how to initiate the descent using the autopilot's vertical speed mode.

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When vertical speed mode is used, the pilots will give the aircraft a desired rate of descent in feet per minute for the aircraft to maintain in the descent.

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It's on the pilot flying to control the power or thrust to maintain a desired speed.

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Unless the aircraft has an auto throttle system. In this aircraft, there isn't one, so the pilots needed to manipulate the thrust to control speed.

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As the aircraft pitched down to start the descent, the speed started to pick up.

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The pilot then states, "We're up more speed, so we got to get our power back.

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Getting ready to start beeping at us. Got to bring it back." The beeping the pilot was referring to was the overspeed warning.

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This indicates, as the name suggests, when the aircraft is going over a speed that may start to overstress the aircraft.

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Just a few seconds later, the overspeed warning sounded lasting for 13 and 1/2 seconds.

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Whilst the warning was sounding, the passenger pilot asked, "Just pull it slightly back?" With the pilot responding, "Well, just get it out of the line.

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And we've got to get it so that it trends. There you go. There you go. Now give it its ends. There you go." This now suggested that the passenger pilot was controlling the aircraft's thrust levers to maintain speed on the

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descent with the owner pilot guiding him through it. Now this is where a line is crossed. The pilot is allowing the aircraft to push beyond safety barriers with an unqualified and unfamiliar person at the controls.

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Unfamiliar in this instance is the worst of the two as you are about to see.

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The passenger pilot continues to move the thrust levers to get the speed under control stating, "I just hate chasing this darn thing." With the pilot joking back saying, "How many hours you got flying this jet?" They continued on the descent passing

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30,000 ft and the pilot continued to coach the passenger pilot showing him how to set up the descent on the flight management system and flight display.

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The passenger then stated, "So pull back?" With the pilot responding, "A little bit little bit." Then saying, "Just keep us out of the red." Referring to the speed indicator on the left of the flight display.

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At 15:58, the controller cleared them direct to South Bend. The pilot input the points into the flight management system and the autopilot turned the aircraft to that point.

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The pilot continued to discuss how to use the aircraft systems to assist with position and how to use the backup systems to cross-check attitude.

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Just a minute later, the pilot then tuned into South Bend's automatic terminal information service or ATIS.

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This is an automated system that informs the pilots of the weather at the airfield and any other important points such as bird activity, status of the runway, and serviceability of radio aids. The weather was reported as wind from 120° at 13 knots, gusting 17 knots,

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no cloud, 10 mi of visibility with a temperature of 2° C, which is 36° F.

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Once the pilots was done listening to the ATIS, the passenger asked, "Okay, pull back on the power." At 16:01, they were then cleared to continue the descent to flight level 200 or 20,000 ft. The altitude selector was adjusted, and then the pilots discussed

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the weather and what to expect at the airfield. They were expecting to land on runway nine right, and with the wind from 120°, they were roughly 30° off, meaning a slight crosswind landing.

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For those of you that do not know, the runway number relates to the heading of the runway. So, for this example, runway 09 is on a heading of 090° or near to it.

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The R or right refers to parallel or multiple runways in the same direction, with the R meaning right, and you'll also see left and center runways also.

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They were then instructed to expedite their descent to 17,000 ft. The passenger increased the ra

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They were then instructed to expedite their descent to 17,000 ft. The passenger increased the rate of descent by reducing the thrust, with the pilot telling him, "Watch your speed." And then, "Very good, very good. Great speed management." At 16:05, they

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leveled off at 17,000 ft, and the speed started increasing again. The pilots instructed the passenger, "Let's go to the stop, to the click, MCT, which means maximum continuous thrust." At this point, the overspeed warning sounded again, this time for just over 11 seconds.

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The pilots took control of the thrust levers and brought the speed under control. He then stated, "That's what the check pilots will do.

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He'll give you three things to do when he knows you're trending in the wrong direction." This is true, but also an indication that the passenger was working hard to keep the speed under control.

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The pilots then stated, "And if there was any doubt of the passenger controlling the aircraft, this will dispel them, your throttles." to the passenger pilot.

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This gave a clear indication of the transfer of the thrust levers to the passenger pilot from the owner pilot.

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They were then cleared to descend to 11,000 ft, route direct to the airport, and contact South Bend approach control.

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The pilots made contact, and soon after they were cleared direct to the outer marker for the instrument landing system or ILS for runway nine right.

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South Bend approach runway jet 260 Delta Kilo 11,000. All right, 260 Delta Kilo South Bend approach you're directed to Noot, the outer marker for runway nine right, and they'll have lower current traffic for the visual approach runway nine.

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Directed Noot for 09 right, 60 Kilo. They were still to expect a visual approach once they were closer to the airfield.

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The controller then cleared them to descend to 3,000 ft. 260 Delta Kilo descend and maintain 3,000. 3,000 now, 60 Kilo.

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The pilots now needed to lose 8,000 ft, so he told the passenger, who was still in control of the thrust levers, "Let's power back. Let's bring it back to Let's trend towards 220 to 10." He was referring to 220 or 210 knots.

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The passenger replied, "We'll have to come We'll have to come way out of it to do that." He was referring to the amount of movement required on the thrust levers to move them from MCT to a thrust setting that would allow for 210 knots.

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The engine thrust started to decrease, and the speed started to slowly trend down. The pilots then carried out the descent checklist and put on the fasten seatbelt sign for the two passengers in the back.

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In the descent, but still too fast, the passenger pilot wasn't too sure on the exact position of the thrust levers or speed they wanted to aim for.

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He states, "Just pull it on down." With the pilot responding, "Yeah, let's get back to 200." The passenger pilot continued to bring the thrust levers back. The engines were decreasing in speed. All of a sudden, at 16:14, the sound of two clicks were heard.

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This was very quickly followed by an interruption in the electrical power and the autopilots disconnecting.

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The aircraft was passing 6,700 ft and at this time was located 18 mi southwest of South Bend Airport.

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The pilot then stated, "Uh-oh." With the passenger replying, "What?" The landing gear warning started to sound and at this point it became clear to the pilots that both engines had lost power.

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The pilot stated, "You went back behind the stops and we lost power." Now, this is why it's important to have a basic understanding of the aircraft you're operating.

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In this aircraft, the thrust levers are mechanically connected to the fuel control units through control cables. To shut off the fuel to the engines, you lift the thrust levers from the flight idle position, this is all the way back

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to the stop, and then pull it back to the fuel cutoff position. Pull-up locks are installed on the thrust levers to prevent inadvertent movement from flight idle to fuel cutoff.

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But in this instance, the passenger pilot was not aware of this and accidentally pulled up on the locks and moved the thrust levers back into the fuel cutoff position, which caused both engines to shut down.

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The pilot now found himself in a very serious situation. The aircraft was now gliding towards the ground with very limited time to restart the engines. He started to run through an engine restart. "Okay, let's see here. Boost pumps are on. Okay, we are dead stick."

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While doing this, the landing gear warning started to sound. Air traffic control then told them to turn left 5° and report when the airport was in sight.

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606 Kilo turn 5° left vector for runway 908 and call the airport in sight. 12 to 12:31 3 miles.

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The pilots were still attempting to get an engine restarted. Now, when an aircraft loses an engine, especially when they know the reason and it was not a mechanical failure, there are two methods to attempt to relight.

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A windmilling start uses residual engine speed, air movement against the fan blades, and engine igniters to restart the engine and regain power.

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Whereas a starter assisted air start uses electrical power routed through the starter generator motor to increase the speed where the igniters can then restart the engine.

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In this instance, the pilots was using the starter to attempt to restart the engine.

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The engine shaft speed was increasing, but the engine wasn't lighting. Under the immense pressure, the pilots had not moved the engine ignition into the on position. Whilst he was attempting this, he informed air traffic control of the emergency.

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It is dead stick, no power. The controller asked if he needed assistance and the pilots replied affirm.

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At this point, air traffic control was completely focused on the emergency aircraft and was attempting to assist where they could.

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Pay attention. Uh we've lost all power and we have no hydraulics. Roger, we have equipment standing by. Uh is your aircraft controllable?

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Uh barely controllable. They ensured all traffic was clear from the area and informed the pilots that all runways were available.

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Both engines were still not operating and with that, both generators were offline. The aircraft was operating on battery power only and the pilots were struggling to find the runway.

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652 runway is available at South Bend wind 130 at 10. We have no navigation if you could give us a vector, please. 652 Roger maintain your present heading South Bend your directed right at South Bend Airport 12:00 and 9 mi.

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The controller replied that the aircraft was about 9 mi from the airport which was at the 12:00 position.

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Both the pilot and the passenger were scanning ahead to try and see the runway.

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The passenger then spotted the runway and stated there's the runway with the pilot replying where? Okay. And at this point the cockpit voice recorder stopped recording and the pilot was unable to transmit voice communications off the aircraft. However, they were still able

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to receive them. The controller continued to transmit vectors to the aircraft. 652 if you can hear me turn right 20° South Bend Airport after the turn will be at your 12:00 and 5 mi. And over the next minute the pilot was able to

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restart one of the engines. However, the associated generator was not reset and brought online. This was apparent as the landing gear was not extending. 652 if you can hear [clears throat] me you're clear for the visual approach runway 9er right or any

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runway at South Bend. All runways are available at South Bend. Without electrical or hydraulic power the gear cannot be extended with the normal handle. However, there is an alternate extension handle that when pulled releases the uplocks holding the

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landing gear doors and allows the gear to free fall into the down and locked position.

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The sequence for the extension handle is for the nose gear to release first then the main gear doors and then the main gear itself.

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And each movement relates to the extension of the handle. 2 in for the nose gear but up to 4 in for the main gear to drop.

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Inside the flight deck the pilot was flying manually with no instruments and one engine back online.

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He pulled the alternate gear extension handle with the nose gear extending into the airflow, but the handle was not pulled all the way, so only the nose gear was extending. The controller could see that they were coming in fast and

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were informed by the tower controller that only the nose gear was extended. Without being able to have a conversation with the pilot, he called for them to go around because the main landing gear was not extended. 260 kilo,

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go around. You have no gear. 260 kilo, if you can hear me, go around.

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The pilots initiated a go-around, climbed away on one engine, and turned right to enter the traffic pattern for runway 9 right. Uh if you'd like to remain in the pattern, that's fine. I cannot hear any of your transmission.

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Anything you want to do right now is fine. I do not see your altitude.

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Um just as a heads-up, but uh vehicles are standing by at South Bend. Downwind, the pilots passed the threshold of the runway and turned right to attempt another approach and landing.

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The nose landing gear was still the only part of the undercarriage that was extended.

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Uh 260 kilo, tower observed that you have a nose wheel only down. It appears that just your nose wheel is down.

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The controller was warning the pilots that only the nose gear was down and was attempting to make contact through a mobile or cell phone by passing the number over the radio.

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Uh 260 kilo, tower says it appears your nose gear only is down. Appears just your nose gear is down.

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Uh 260 kilo, if you've got somebody on the uh aircraft with a cell phone, I have a phone number for you if you'd like to contact us that way.

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Uh 260 kilo, there's a phone number here to contact South Bend approach, area code 574.

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And I'll give you that number again in about 30 seconds in case you weren't ready.

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The pilots decided to make a landing with only the nose gear down. As the aircraft passed the threshold, it was lined up with the runway and the rate of descent reduced.

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As the aircraft made contact with the runway, it bounced back up into the air several times before its then entered a climbing right turn.

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The nose then started to drop and the aircraft continued to roll before descending and colliding with three residential houses.

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In the crash, both the pilots and passenger pilots were killed with the two passengers in the back surviving with serious injuries.

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There was also an additional person in the residential house that was seriously injured in the crash.

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In the subsequent investigation, one of the surviving passengers was interviewed and gave the following report.

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While the airplane was on approach to the runway, he noticed the instrument panel was not illuminated like it had been earlier in the flight.

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Specifically, he recalled that the cockpit instrument panel appeared to be unpowered. He saw that the pilot was manually flying the airplane.

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The pilot's rated passenger turned around and announced that they should prepare for landing. The passenger stated that he became concerned when the airplane flew past the terminal and control tower and had not touched down.

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He noted that it felt like the airplane was coming in hot. The airplane then banked right and climbed away from the runway.

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The passenger heard the pilots tell the pilot's rated passenger that they were down to one engine.

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The airplane continued in the traffic pattern back to the runway. The passenger stated that the cockpit instrument panel still appeared to be unpowered during the second landing attempt. However, he did recall seeing flashing red and yellow cockpit lights.

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The passenger believed that during the second landing attempt the airplane had a lower ground speed when compared to the first landing attempt. He noted that the airplane bounced off the runway several times before it entered a nose high attitude and rolled to the right.

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He remembered seeing rooftops of homes before he blacked out. His next memory was after the accident as first responders attempted to gain access to the cabin.

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The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause of this accident to be the private pilot's inadequate response to the dual engine shutdown during cruise descent including his failure to adhere to procedures which ultimately resulted in his failure to maintain airplane control

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during a single engine go-around. An additional cause was the pilot's decision to allow the unqualified pilot rated passenger to manipulate the airplane controls which directly resulted in the inadvertent dual engine shutdown.

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This incident both fascinated and horrified me. This is a perfect example of why people who are not qualified on aircraft types should not operate them as mistakes like this can happen.

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This mixed with the pilot's unbothered response to the overspeed warning already showed a recipe for disaster.

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The other main area is the importance of training. No one expects to lose both engines on approach to an airfield but if it was to happen having a complete understanding and almost muscle memory of the restart procedure can

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combat the startle effect and get the process moving quickly and efficiently to provide a higher chance of a successful outcome.

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It's really something to think about. I hope you found this video interesting. Please click the like button if you did.

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Thank you for watching and I'll see you in the next one.

Topics:business jetHawker Beechcraft Premier IApilot errorengine shutdownemergency landingflight safetypilot trainingaircraft systemsaviation incidentSouth Bend Airport

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