Accident description
Last updated: 20 June 2013
| Status: | Final |
| Date: | 18 DEC 1992 |
| Time: | 16:45 |
| Type: |  Cessna 550 Citation II |
| Operator: | US Department of Energy |
| Registration: | N6887Y |
| C/n / msn: | 550-0293 |
| First flight: | 1981 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 5275 |
| Engines: | 2 Pratt & Whitney JT15D-4 |
| Crew: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
| Passengers: | Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 6 |
| Total: | Fatalities: 8 / Occupants: 8 |
| Airplane damage: | Destroyed |
| Airplane fate: | Written off (damaged beyond repair) |
| Location: | 1,6 km (1 mls) E of Billings-Logan International Airport, MT (BIL) (United States of America)
 |
| Phase: | Approach (APR) |
| Nature: | |
| Departure airport: | Watertown Airport, SD (ATY/KATY), United States of America |
| Billings-Logan International Airport, MT (BIL/KBIL), United States of America |
Rolled rapidly to the inverted position and descend almost vertically into the ground while on approach to Billings' runway 27R. Upset caused by wake turbulence from a preceding Boeing 757. Horizontal separation was decreasing below 2.6 miles.
PROBABLE CAUSE: "The pilot-in-command's failure to follow established vortex avoidance procedures, as published in the airman's information manual, to provide his own wake turbulence separation." Events:
Sources:
» NTSB
Photos
Map
This map shows the airport of departure and the intended destination of the flight. The line between the airports does not display the exact flight path.
Distance from Watertown Airport, SD to Billings-Logan International Airport, MT as the crow flies is 888 km (555 miles).
Distance from Watertown Airport, SD to Billings-Logan International Airport, MT as the crow flies is 888 km (555 miles).
