The Air Safety Administration has closed its investigation into the Dhumla crash that took the life of Flight Officer Aldeny and seriously injured Flight Officer Tedman. The full report weighs in at over 300 pages of technical investigation, witness reports, crew interviews and simulation data. The conclusion reached by all this is that pilot error was the only cause of the accident – this includes both the actions and mind-set of Pilot in Command Aldeny.
The aircraft was planned to make a touch-and-go landing at Kravass General Airport, putting wheels down but not slowing enough to come to a full stop and thus taking to the air again shortly afterwards. The approach went as planned with a reduced throttle to allow the aircraft to slow enough that the landing gear would not be damaged on touchdown. As the plane crossed over the threshold Aldeny cut the throttle and engaged the reverse thrusters before throttling back up to reduce speed and perform a full stop landing. Cockpit voice recordings made clear this was done without informing his co-pilot, who had too little time to react. The aircraft was already going too fast and failed to slow down enough before ramping off the end of the runway and crashing nose-first into the ground off the raised threshold.
