NTSB says FAA was wrong not to require inspections of Learjet landing gear after Arizona crash

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The National Transportation Safety Board wants the owners of nearly 2,000 Learjets — which have long been associated with the rich and famous — to urgently inspect their landing gear to make sure they won’t collapse as happened in a fatal crash in February involving a private jet owned by Mötley Crüe singer Vince Neil.

The NTSB issued a report Wednesday saying the Federal Aviation Administration made a mistake in July when it decided not to require the inspections of the iconic private jets that were produced for roughly six decades. Many private companies and celebrities starting with Frank Sinatra and continuing up to Beyonce and Jay-Z have flown Learjets over the years although the plane has been eclipsed by Gulfstreams and other newer models since the last Learjet delivery in 2022. Bombardier ended production of Learjets so it could focus on more profitable models.

The crash investigators are particularly concerned because only about 12% of the 1,883 planes that might be affected have been inspected so far even though their maker, Bombardier, recommended it in March — not long after the crash in Scottsdale, Arizona.

“The FAA’s decision is particularly difficult to justify in view of the imminent risk of loss of life from a similar accident, the minimal effort required to accomplish the SBs (Service Bulletins)—an estimated 2 hours per airplane—and the fact that Bombardier itself has urged the FAA to mandate compliance,” the NTSB wrote.

The FAA did not immediately respond to questions about the recommendations Wednesday.

Investigators looking into why the Learjet in question veered off a runway in Arizona and hit a business jet, killing one person, quickly determined that the left main landing gear had separated from the plane upon landing. And the NTSB found three previous incidents of this happening years earlier because a key retaining bolt wasn't properly held in place by a pin.

The crash killed the Learjet’s captain, 78-year-old Joie Vitosky, and injured the first officer and a passenger on the plane along with an occupant of the Gulfstream it ran into.

The NTSB said this issue isn’t readily detectable during routine maintenance or preflight inspections, but could be easily found if the plane owners would follow Bombardier’s recommendation.

The NTSB said the FAA should also require mechanics to visually check the position of the landing gear's retaining bolt and trunnion pin anytime they perform maintenance on the landing gear. Otherwise the landing gear might not be securely attached to the plane.

In the Arizona crash, investigators determined that the plane had a hard landing in June 2024 in Oklahoma that damaged the landing gear. The repairs done after that involved removing both main landing gear to inspect them.