Aspen

I just read a synopsis of a fatal airplane crash in Aspen killing 16 including the pilot, co-pilot, flight attendant and all of the passengers. It was an IFR approach at dusk in a snowstorm in a Gulfstream III, well-trained and experienced pilots. The account is chilling. The boss passenger on a charter was demanding and late for the departure time. The flight left LAX without enough time to reach the outer marker by sunset + 30. With a passenger in the jump seat and a non-sterile cockpit, the approach drifted below minimums, in an unstable approach, looking for the road --- controlled flight into terrain.

A “nighttime approach into Aspen is not authorized;” it says so on the approach plate. What’s more, Aspen is decidedly non-precision. It utilizes the VOR at Red Mountain. The VOR gives less precise localizer information degrading further with distance away from the station, that is, as you get closer to Aspen, the lateral displacement becomes less precise, not good. They should have a precision ILS but the field cannot meet the criteria, so this is an ongoing velvet trap for the high-end jet setters. (Johnny Denver flew his own Lear in and out of there.)

Well, an Aspen dinner party deviated into Rifle might become a bit western and rowdy honky-tonk but better that. In fact better still don’t leave LAX with a demanding passenger for what can only end up an illegal approach. I have flown this Airport and Rifle, Colorado, the alternate. Back then I had the advantage of Rocky Mountain Airway’s private TACAN frequency for the approach, but no way would I drop into that valley at night, much less in a snow storm. That’s a one-way runway, up hill (that helps and so does cold weather) but no go around! The ski area is right there, 11 to 12 thousand feet, 7,820` field elevation if I remember.

So, if there is a moral to that one, don’t both of you have a bad day at the same time. Somebody needed to declare the missed approach and go to Rifle. Imagine the pressures that lead to the tragedy.