Plane that crashed on busy Florida highway had engine problems that were not found during maintenance weeks before, NTSB says

 

Dashcam footage shows the wreckage of Hop-A-Jet flight 823 after it crashed on Interstate 75 in Naples, Florida on February 9, 2024. 

Alfonso Del Nodal

The National Transportation Safety Board says “extensive corrosion… consistent with exposure to a saltwater environment” caused both engines of a Bombardier Challenger 600 charter jet to stop working at virtually the same time, leading the pilots to crash land on a busy Florida highway.

Problems with the engines were noticed weeks before, but after days of maintenance work and consultations with the manufacturer, the corrosion was not found and the plane was allowed to keep flying, the NTSB said.

On February 9, 2024, Hop-A-Jet flight 823 was flying from Columbus, Ohio, and preparing to land in Naples, Florida, when both engines stalled and stopped providing thrust “which was unrecoverable, at the low altitude,” according to the report.

“What the hell what— oh right engine just quit,” the first officer Ian Hofmann said, according to a transcript of the cockpit voice recorder.