Fourth Beechjet 400A Flameout Mirrors Past Issues

A Colombia-registered Beechjet 400A glided to a safe landing at Palanquero Air Base, Colombia, after suffering a dual-engine flameout during a July 28 flight from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood (Fla.) Airport to Bogotá International Airport, according to a preliminary report released on Thursday by Colombia’s Grupo de Investigación de Accidentes and Incidentes (GRIAA).

Registered as HK-4756, the twinjet was just starting its descent into Bogotá from FL450; both engines flamed out at 44,800 feet while it flew through a maturing convective storm cell at 11:15 p.m. local time.

The two crewmembers, the sole occupants aboard the aircraft, attempted but failed to restart the aircraft’s JT15D-5 engines in the air. They performed a controlled descent and glided the aircraft to a safe landing at Palanquero Air Base, touching down at 11:30 p.m. On the ground one engine was restarted, allowing the jet to taxi under its own power to the apron. A post-incident test showed that both engines were in operating condition, allowing the aircraft to be ferried to Bogotá.

This marks the fourth-known flameout incident involving a Beechjet 400A. An NTSB final report into a June 2006 incident involving Beechjet 400A N440DS found that accretion of high-altitude ice crystals on the compressor vanes and their ingestion into the engine high-pressure compressor caused both engines to flame out when the pilots pulled back the power levers.

(Chad Trautvetter - AINOnline News)