The red circle indicates the deployed right air brake
The absence of recorded flight data leaves several questions unanswered in the fatal crash of a Dassault Falcon 20C during an unstable night visual approach. Although the relatively high-time pilots had flown together regularly, there are few facts available to explain the captain’s apparent frustration and anger over the performance of the first officer, the pilot flying, and why the flight crew did not discontinue the approach, go around, and try again.
The crew attempted to use the instrument landing system (ILS) as a backup during the visual approach even though they knew that the glideslope was out of service. The Falcon crossed the final approach fix “off course, high and fast,” according to the report by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), and the captain told the first officer to deploy the airplane’s air brakes, a prohibited action, in an apparent attempt to salvage the ap…
