The student pilot and flight instructor taxied the Cessna 172 and stopped short of the displaced threshold runway behind a Bombardier Challenger awaiting their clearance for departure from Van Nuys Airport (VNY) in California.
A witness stated that the Cessna was about “2-wing spans” behind the Challenger and was in line with the jet thrust vector.
Shortly after the pilot of the Challenger was cleared for takeoff, while still on the taxiway, with brakes applied, he increased the engine power to about 80% to 90%, then released the brakes, and departed.
The flight instructor in the Cessna reported that he cut the mixture and deflected the aileron control towards the Challenger’s jet bast, but the airplane lifted, and the left wing was substantially damaged when it hit the runway.
The Challenger pilot reported that he was not aware of anything unusual related to his takeoff, as he was not contacted by the local air traffic control tower.
Probable Cause: The student pilot’s failure to maintain sufficient distance behind a jet airplane which, resulted in his loss of airplane control due to the jet airplane’s jet blast and the flight instructor’s delayed remedial action.
To download the final report. Click here. This will trigger a PDF download to your device.
This April 2022 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
This is yet another issue of ATC (Ground/Tower) not informing the Jet of traffic behind it. So that they would not use a large amount of power to get rolling to make a turn and then line up on the runway where they could then do a power up for take-off.
Next, I don’t think most pilots know that 100′ behind a jet like this, the thrust (“blast”) speed is over 60 MPH. Would you, in a small airplane try to taxi or take off in 60MPH winds (well above your stall speed or even Vr speed)?
The lesson to be learned here, is 2 wing spans is not enough distance behind a jet to keep from having problems when they power up. 150′ behind them may not be enough (anything of airliner size ).
Towered airports need to keep these aircraft separated/sequestered from each other to avoid jet blast problems. They may need to publish notices to larger jets that they need to use minimal power for line up and wait.
I have been around aiports where jets have been sent into a GA parking area with no marshalling and low power jet blast at less than 50′ is very interesting to see the effects to tied down aircraft. In particular a C152 — It was flying being held by the tie down ropes, but off the ground.