How a Little Frost Seriously Impacted a Flight

Combination of factors—contamination, ground effect, and upward acceleration—all pushed toward a stall.

Peter Garrison

Friday, August 29, 2025 at 09:00 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

An Embraer EMB-500 Phenom 100 taxis at London Southend Airport, which is covered in snow during blizzard. [Alamy]

Key Takeaways:

A January takeoff crash of an Embraer Phenom 300, initially attributed by the NTSB to wing ice contamination exacerbated by the pilot accidentally turning off deicing, resulted in one fatality.
The article highlights the critical role of ground effect, explaining that it can significantly reduce a wing's maximum lift and lower its stall angle of attack during initial liftoff.
The crash was likely caused by a dangerous combination of subtle wing contamination (possibly upper-surface ice), the adverse effects of ground effect, and potentially an overly aggressive takeoff rotation by the pilot.

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On a January morning at Provo, Utah, an Embraer Phenom 300 was towed out of its heated hangar onto a ramp whitened by falling snow. It was fueled, and the pilot and three passengers boarded.

It taxied to the runway and, some 40 minutes after it had emerged from the hangar, the Phenom began its takeoff roll. It rotated, began to climb, then rolled to the left. The wing struck the runway, pulling the airplane sideways. The fuselage came to rest largely intact, only its left front portion crushed. There was no fire. All of the passengers survived the crash—only the pilot died.