The Bombardier Challenger 604 suffered its first accident on 4 January when one crashed on take-off from Birmingham International Airport in the UK, killing all five people on board.
Flown by US operator Epps Aviation and chartered by the AGCO group, the aircraft (N90AG) entered service in 1999.
Visibility was 23,000ft (7,000m in daylight, wind almost straight down the runway (15) at 6kt, temperature -2ºC (28ºF). The aircraft had been on the ground overnight, when the temperature had dropped as low as -7.5ºC, but it had not been de-iced before take-off. No heavy aircraft had taken off ahead of the Challenger. Witnesses say that the aircraft dropped a wing just after unstick and cartwheeled, coming to rest inverted next to the runway.
On 10 October 2000, a Challenger 600 (C-FTBZ) modified by Bombardier to test 604 characteristics went out of control on a test flight during its initial climb from runway 19 at Wichita airport, USA, killing the pilots and flight test engineer.
The US National Transportation Safety Board has yet to report on that accident.
Source: Flight International
