Canadair CL-600 Challenger crash, Apr 3, 1980 (1 killed)
Canadair CL-600 Challenger accident on April 3, 1980 near California City, California, United States with 1 fatality. Cause: Uncontrolled collision...
- Date: April 3, 1980
- Aircraft: Canadair CL-600 Challenger
- Location: California City, California, United States
- Fatalities: 1
- Phase of flight: En route
- Cause: Uncontrolled collision with the ground after an emergency descent caused by technical problems. Contributing factors reported were the angle of attack indicator, binding, deteriorated hydraulic seals and an unidentified failure of the emergency chute jettison system.
On 3 April 1980 the first Canadair Challenger prototype (C-GCGR, msn 1001) was on a test flight from Mojave-Kern County Airport when the crew encountered an unscheduled stall at an angle of attack of 34 degrees. Control was lost and the aircraft entered a dive. All three crew bailed out over the desert near California City. Two crew members were injured and one was killed when his parachute failed to open.