Montrose – South Bend

On November 28, 2004 at 09:55 AM, Montrose – South Bend experienced a crash involving Canadair CL-601 Challenger, operated by Hop-a-Jet, with the event recorded near Montrose Colorado.

The flight was categorized as charter/taxi (non scheduled revenue flight) and the reported phase was takeoff (climb) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

6 people were known to be on board, 3 fatalities were recorded, 3 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 50.0%.

Crew on board: 3, crew fatalities: 2, passengers on board: 3, passenger fatalities: 1, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. On November 28, 2004, about 0958 mountain standard time, a Canadair, Ltd., CL-600-2A12, N873G, registered to Hop-a-Jet, Inc., and operated by Air Castle Corporation dba Global Aviation as Glo-Air flight 73, collided with the ground during takeoff at Montrose Regional Airport (MTJ), Montrose, Colorado. The on-demand charter flight was operated under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 135 on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed, and snow was falling. Of the six occupants on board, the captain, the flight attendant, and one passenger were killed, and the first officer and two passengers were seriously injured. The airplane was destroyed by impact forces and post crash fire. The flight was en route to South Bend Regional Airport (SBN), South Bend, Indiana.

Aircraft reference details include registration N873G, MSN 3009, year of manufacture 1983.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 38.4375°, -108.2404°.