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 due to pilot spatial disorientation, killing all six occupants.
- Contributing factors included dark night conditions over the lake (lacking visual horizon), pilot fatigue, and limited pilot-in-command experience in the more powerful CJ4 aircraft.
- A critical factor was "mode confusion": the pilot likely attempted to engage the autopilot as trained but failed, possibly due to subtle differences in cockpit controls and feedback from his previous aircraft, leading to a false sense of security and inadequate instrument scanning.
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