Date:	Friday 2 June 2006
Time:	14:40
Type:	Learjet 35A
Owner/operator:	International Jet Charter
Registration:	N182K
MSN:	35A-293
Year of manufacture:	1980
Total airframe hrs:	11704 hours
Engine model:	Garrett TFE731-2-2B
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 5
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed, written off
Category:	Accident
Location:	off New London-Groton Airport, CT (GON) -   United States of America
Phase:	Approach
Nature:	Passenger - Non-Scheduled/charter/Air Taxi
Departure airport:	Atlantic City International Airport, NJ (ACY/KACY)
Destination airport:	New London-Groton Airport, CT (GON/KGON)
Investigating agency:	NTSB
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
Learjet N182K departed Norfolk (ORF) at 12:39, carrying five passengers. The airplane landed at Atlantic City (ACY) at 13:13 where two passengers deplaned. At 13:47 the jet continued on to Groton (GON). The crew briefed the runway 05 ILS approach, including the missed approach procedures. Weather at the time included a 100-foot broken cloud layer, and at the airport, 2 miles visibility. The approach was flown over water, and at the accident location, there was dense fog. Two smaller airplanes had successfully completed the approach prior to the accident airplane. The captain flew the approach and the first officer made 100-foot callouts during the final descent, until 200 feet above the decision height. At that point, the captain asked the first officer if he saw anything. The first officer reported "ground contact," then noted "decision height." The captain immediately reported "I got the lights" which the first officer confirmed. The captain reduced the power to flight idle. Approximately 4 seconds later, the captain attempted to increase power. However, the engines did not have time to respond before the airplane descended into the water and impacted a series of approach light stanchions, commencing about 2,000 feet from the runway. Neither crew member continued to call out altitudes after seeing the approach lights, and the captain descended the airplane below the decision height before having the requisite descent criteria. The absence of ground references could have been conducive to a featureless terrain illusion in which the captain would have believed that the airplane was at a higher altitude than it actually was.
Weather just before the time of the accident (13:56) was:
KGON 021756Z 19007KT 2SM BR BKN006 20/18 A2986 RMK AO2 SLP109 T02000183 10211 20178 58004= [wind 190 degrees at 7 kts, visibility 2 miles, mist 5-7 oktas cloud at 600ft, temperature 20C, dewpoint 18C, QNH 29.86in]

PROBABLE CAUSE: "The crew's failure to properlymonitor the airplane's altitude, which resulted in the captain's inadvertent descent of the airplane into water. Contributing to the accident were the foggy weather conditions, and the captain's decision to descend below the decision height without sufficient visual cues."

2 Killed, 3 Hurt In Learjet Crash (The Hartford Courant, 2-6-2006)
NTSB

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