Burke Lakefront Airport (BKL) sits snugly nestled along the south shore of Lake Erie and serves mostly business and traditional general aviation traffic, along with a handful of air carrier operations. Pilots like the place for its convenience to downtown Cleveland. Late one December evening in 2016, the pilot of a Cessna Citation CJ4 lost control of his airplane less than three minutes after takeoff from BKL. The Part 91-operated aircraft impacted the dark choppy waters of Lake Erie with no survivors amongst the six people aboard. Not surprisingly, a number of factors appear to have been at work in creating this accident.
CJ4 Accident Points to Basic Instrument Flying Skills
Key Takeaways:
- A Cessna Citation CJ4 crashed into Lake Erie shortly after takeoff from Burke Lakefront Airport, killing all six occupants, primarily due to pilot spatial disorientation in dark, no-visual-horizon conditions.
- A significant contributing factor was the pilot's likely failure to engage the autopilot, attributed to "mode confusion" stemming from differences in cockpit layout, particularly autopilot engagement indicators, between the CJ4 and his previous Citation Mustang.
- Additional factors included the pilot's limited recent experience (under 9 hours PIC) in the higher-performance CJ4, fatigue, and inadequate instrument scanning, which collectively prevented recovery from the loss of control.
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