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The crew on a Hawker 850XP told NTSB investigators they heard they were cleared for takeoff before the plane's left wing collided with the vertical stabilizer of a landing Cessna Citation Mustang at the intersection of two runways.On Oct. 24 the Hawker (N269AA) took off from runway 22 at the William P. Hobby Airport (HOU) in Houston, Texas on a part 135 on-demand passenger flight to Waukesha County Airport (UES) in Waukesha, Wisconsin. The Citation (N510HM) was landing on runway 13, operating as a Part 91 flight from Fulton County Executive Airport/Charlie Brown Field (FTY) in Atlanta, Georgia. HOU has intersecting runways and the controller had instructed the Hawker to line up and wait on runway 22. The Hawker crew told NTSB investigators in a post-accident interview that they believed they heard they were cleared and subsequently took off, colliding with the landing Citation at the intersection of the two runways. There were no injuries to the two pilots and one passenger on the Hawker nor the one pilot and three passengers on the Citation. RELATED STORY:Hawker 800 departs without permission, colliding with Citation Mustang at Houston airportAccording to the FAA record of communications, the Hawker crew contacted the ground control requesting clearance to taxi or departure and about a minute later, the Citation checked in with the controller while on the nine-mile final to runway 13R. The controller cleared the Citation to land and the pilot read back the landing clearance. The Hawker approached runway 22 for departure and was instructed to monitor LC frequency. The flight crew told investigators in the post-accident interview that they passed taxiway K2 while taxiing to runway 22 and switched to the LC frequency. When the plane began turning left to be perpendicular to the runway, the crew said the V-speeds were not on the display screens.
The pilot of the Citation reported a four-mile final to the controller. A minute later the controller instructed the Hawker to line up and wait on runway 22 and the crew acknowledged this. The controller did not give the crew of the Hawker a traffic advisory. The Hawker was in a takeoff roll on runway 22 when the flight data/clearance delivery controller alerted the controller of the Hawker's movement. The controller said "November nine alpha alpha, stop, hold your position," to which there was no response from the crew of the Hawker. A few seconds later the controller again said, "Alpha, alpha, hold your position, stop," with no response.Damage to the Citation
The crew told investigators they had a rudder bias alert and a pitch trim alert, which had to be resolved while on the takeoff roll. Both of the crew members said they did not see the Citation until about one second before the impact, describing the feeling as a thud. After the two planes collided, the controller began sending instructions to all aircraft nearby on the final approach behind the Citation. The Hawker crew had taken off and was in the initial climb when they were informed by the controller they needed to return to the airport and land on runway 13R.
The Hawker returned to the airport and landed uneventfully. The crew later said they did not see the plane but heard a sound like a truck tire blowing out on the highway. They told the investigators the plane did not yaw and they had no controllability issues during takeoff. They were not aware of the damage until after parking and exiting the plane.
HOU is equipped with Airport Surface Detection Equipment - Model X system, with displays at multiple workstations. ASDE-X is a surface movement radar and aids controllers in detecting potential runway conflicts through detailed coverage of movement on the runways and taxiways. Through the system, the controllers were alerted of the Hawker's movement and tried alerting the crew to stop takeoff. With an increase in runway incursions and close calls across the country, the ASDE-X system is one of the tools the FAA is trying to implement at airports across the country, along with funding and infrastructure changes.
The post-accident examination revealed left wing impact damage on the Hawker, with the titanium leading-edge panel showing a v-shaped aft indentation to the wing front spar and embedded sheet metal remnants from the Citation. The left-wing winglet remained attached to the left wing and the winglet leading edge exhibited white paint transfer marks. The navigation light lens was impact-separated and pieces of the glass were found in the Citation's tail cone/stinger. Roughly ten inches of the top section of the Hawker's winglet separated in the impact.
The Citation's left side of the tail section was impacted by the left wing of the Hawker. The torn skin on the tail section was consistent with the left wing of the Hawker impacting the left side of the Citation's tail stinger and exiting the right side, severing part of the stinger. The damage was isolated to an area of the empennage. Due to the impact, a section of the aft canted bulkhead was fractured and separated. Part of the aft horizontal stabilizer spar was torn and bent, consistent with the impact. The rudder sector mount was torn from the structure at the fastener locations.
The rudder torque tube was fracture separated from the rudder control sector and the rudder. the upper and lower left and lower right rudder control cables were broken, consistent with tensile overload. The upper right rudder control cable was intact but the ball end had been pulled from the rudder sector. The autopilot rudder servo control cable was fractured in tensile overload. The left autopilot cable pulley bracket with the pulley attached had been separated from the canted bulkhead. The left strake was impact fractured from the tail cone stinger and was recovered from the runway with other sheet metal fragments from the stinger.
The NTSB has multiple specialists assigned to the ongoing investigation including operations, human performance, air traffic controllers and cockpit voice recorders. The FAA, National Air Traffic Controllers Union, Textron Aviation, DuPage Aerospace Corporation (Hawker's operator) and My Jet DOM, LLC (Citation operator) are all party to the investigation. The Hawker was equipped with a CVR, which was removed and sent to the NTSB Vehicle Recorder Laboratory in Washington, D.C. for download and analysis. The Citation was not equipped with recorders.
This investigation is ongoing and a final report will take one to two years to complete.