Wallops Flight Facility - Wallops Flight Facility

On October 27, 1998 at 02:56 PM, Wallops Flight Facility - Wallops Flight Facility experienced a crash involving Learjet 45, operated by Gates Learjet Aircraft Corporation, with the event recorded near Wallops Flight Facility Virginia.

The flight was categorized as test and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

3 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 3 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

Crew on board: 2, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 1, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The Learjet was participating in water ingestion tests, which required multiple landing rolls through a diked pool on the runway. On one of the landing rolls, the airplane's left main landing gear and nose landing gear tracked through the pool, while the right main landing gear tracked outside the pool. The airplane veered to the left, departed the left side of the runway, and struck a pickup truck parked adjacent to the runway. The airplane came to rest inverted and on fire. Formal hazard identification and risk management procedures were not employed and no alignment cues were in place on the runway to facilitate pool entry alignment. Further, the accident truck, other vehicles, heavy equipment, and personnel were placed hundreds of feet inside the FAA recommended runway-safe and object-free areas during the test.

Aircraft reference details include registration N454LJ, MSN 45-004, year of manufacture 1998.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 37.9352°, -75.4697°.