2008 South Carolina Learjet 60 Crash - Aftermath

Aftermath

The crash site was left intact until the NTSB could perform its initial survey. As a result, runway 11/29 of the Columbia Metropolitan Airport was closed until the morning of September 21. Because the other airport runway, runway 5/23 was also closed for resurfacing, the airport was closed to service. Smaller aircraft were diverted to Columbia Owens Downtown Airport, while scheduled airline service was canceled for the 20th, affecting approximately 400 passengers.

In addition to the impact on the airport itself, because of time needed to repair fire damage and perform clean up, the stretch of SC 302 where the plane came to rest was closed until 6 a.m. on September 25.

The plane did not carry a flight data recorder, but during the investigation, the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) was found. In the recording, the pilot indicates she is reacting to the sound of an apparent tire blow-out and attempting a rejected takeoff. Pieces of a tire were found at the crash site.|

Both surviving passengers, as well as the estates of the two deceased, filed lawsuits claiming damages from various parties including Learjet, tire manufacturer Goodyear, and, in at least one case (Goldstein's), against the insurance companies of the dead pilots, not their estates.

Goldstein died on August 28, 2009 of a drug overdose (combination of cocaine and prescription drugs given to him for side effects of the plane crash) in his New York City apartment.

The NTSB published its report into the accident on July 16, 2010. It concluded that the cause of the accident was two-fold: (i) the tires were severely under-inflated, which resulted in several of them blowing-out during the take-off roll; (ii) the captain aborted the take-off at high speed (144 knots (267 km/h)). Normal operating procedure for the Learjet 60 is to abort take-off above 80 knots (150 km/h) only for serious problems that make the aircraft uncontrollable, and never to abort take-off above the "go/no-go" decision speed V₁ (which for this particular take-off was 136 knots (252 km/h)). The co-pilot could be heard on the CVR saying the appropriate "go go go".