Seattle - Teterboro

On December 12, 1999 at 04:35 PM, Seattle - Teterboro experienced a crash involving IAI 1124 Westwind, operated by Panda Leasing Company, with the event recorded near Gouldsboro Pennsylvania.

The flight was categorized as private and the reported phase was flight at a mountains crash site.

3 people were known to be on board, 3 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

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

The listed crash cause is human factor. After a 5-hour flight, the Westwind jet began its descent to the airport. Air traffic control instructed the flight crew to cross a VOR at 18,000 feet. The flight crew was then instructed to cross an intersection at 6,000 feet. The flight crew needed to descend the airplane 12,000 feet, in 36 nautical miles, to make the crossing restriction. The flight crew acknowledged the clearance, and no further transmissions were received from the airplane. The airplane struck treetops and impacted the ground in a wooded area. The accident flight was the airplane's first flight after maintenance. Work that was accomplished during the maintenance included disassembly and reassembly of the horizontal stabilizer trim actuator. Examination of the actuator at the accident site revealed that components of the actuator were separated and that they displayed no damage where they would have been attached. Examination of the actuator by the Safety Board revealed that the actuator had not been properly assembled in the airplane. A similar actuator was improperly assembled and installed in a static airplane for a ground test. When the actuator was run, the jackscrews of the actuator were observed backing out of the rod end caps within the first few actuations of the pitch trim toward the nose-down position. As the pitch trim continued to be actuated toward the nose-down position, the jackscrews became disconnected from the rod end caps, and the horizontal stabilizer became disconnected from the actuator. The passenger was Peter Lahaye, founder and owner of the Lahaye Laboratories and the aircraft.

Aircraft reference details include registration N50PL, MSN 338, year of manufacture 1981.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 41.2460°, -75.4555°.