Unplanned Land

On February 2, 2005, about 0718 eastern standard time, a Bombardier Challenger CL-600-1A11, N370V, ran off the departure end of runway 6 at Teterboro Airport (TEB), Teterboro, New Jersey, at a ground speed of about 110 knots; through an airport perimeter fence; across a six-lane highway (where it struck a vehicle); and into a parking lot before impacting a building. The two pilots were seriously injured, as were two occupants in the vehicle. The cabin aide, eight passengers, and one person in the building received minor injuries. The airplane was destroyed by impact forces and post impact fire.

  This is obviously unplanned - there was very little time to warn the passengers about what was about to happen.  The cabin aide on the aircraft stated that she did not notice any problems during the takeoff until she saw that they were rapidly approaching the airport perimeter fence. She remembered the captain saying, “hold on,” as the airplane ran off the runway and closed her eyes and tried to brace for the impact as the airplane headed toward the building.

 The pilots were initially trapped in their seats by wreckage and, therefore, were unable to open the main cabin door promptly after the accident. The cabin aide failed to open the main cabin door; therefore, a passenger rotated the door handle and, with another passenger, pushed and kicked the door open. All of the airplane occupants successfully evacuated the airplane.

The full Accident Report is here.