On 9 December 2012, a

Learjet 25 The Learjet 25 is an American ten-seat (two crew and eight passengers), twin-engine, high-speed business jet aircraft manufactured by Learjet. It is a stretched version of the Learjet 24. Development The first Model 25 flew on August 12, 196 ...

business jet carrying five passengers including

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

singer

Jenni Rivera Dolores Janney "Jenni" Rivera Saavedra (July 2, 1969 – December 9, 2012) was an American singer known for her work within the Regional Mexican music genre, specifically in the styles of Banda, Mariachi and Norteño. In life and death, sev ...

crashed south of

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...

, Mexico, minutes after taking off from the city's international airport. All aboard, including two crew members, were killed. The subsequent investigation was unable to determine the cause of the sudden steep descent that led to the aircraft impacting the ground at extremely high speed.

Accident

The Learjet 25 was chartered to fly Rivera and four others from Monterrey to

Toluca Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the States of Mexico, state capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. With a population of 910,608 as of the 2020 census, Toluca is the fifth most populous city in M ...

, near Mexico City, after she performed a concert at the

Monterrey Arena Arena Monterrey is an indoor arena in Monterrey, Mexico. It is primarily used for shows, concerts and indoor sports like indoor soccer, arena football and basketball. It used to be the home arena of the Monterrey Fury indoor soccer team and the F ...

. It took off from

Monterrey International Airport Monterrey International Airport, ( es, link=yes, Aeropuerto Internacional de Monterrey, ), ceremonial name General Mariano Escobedo International Airport, is an international airport located in Apodaca, Nuevo León, Mexico. Together with Del N ...

at about 3:20am local time on 9 December 2012. Around 15 minutes later, while still climbing towards its assigned cruise level, the aircraft suddenly went into a steep descent and disappeared from radar, crashing to the ground. No distress call was received from the crew. The wreckage was located later in the day near

Iturbide, Nuevo León Iturbide is a municipality of Mexico, located in Nuevo León. It has an area of 719.2 square kilometers. It is named in honor of Agustín de Iturbide. It is bordered by the municipality of Galeana on the north and west. Aramberri borders it to t ...

. The aircraft had completely disintegrated on impact. There were no survivors among the seven people on board.

Aircraft

The aircraft was a twin-engine

with US registration N345MC, built in 1969 with serial number 25-046. It was operated by Starwood Management LLC. In 2005, N345MC was involved in an incident during which a fuel imbalance developed between the left and right wing's fuel tanks, although no technical fault was found within the fuel system. No one was injured.

Investigation

The investigation into the accident was carried out by the Mexican Directorate General of Civil Aeronautics (DGAC). Since the United States was the state of manufacture and registry of the aircraft, the US

National Transportation Safety Board The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incid ...

(NTSB) sent an accredited representative to assist with the inquiry. In December 2014, the DGAC issued its final accident report. The investigation was hampered by the fact that the

flight data recorder A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to as a "black box", an outdated name which has b ...

was destroyed in the impact, and no information could be retrieved. The

cockpit voice recorder A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to as a "black box", an outdated name which has b ...

was never found. From the analysis of the recorded

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

information, it was determined that the Learjet had experienced a sudden loss of control while climbing through , leading to a nearly vertical high-speed nosedive. The angle of impact with terrain was estimated at 89°, and the impact speed higher than the aircraft's maximum operating speed. Other flight crews that had previously flown on N345MC had reported occurrences of anomalous vibrations felt on the

control column A yoke, alternatively known as a control wheel or a control column, is a device used for piloting some fixed-wing aircraft.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 563. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. . ...

during cruise, leading the investigators to speculate that the sudden nosedive might have been the result of a failure in the

horizontal stabilizer A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabiliser, is a small lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyroplan ...

, although no hard evidence was found among the badly damaged parts of the system recovered from the wreckage. Furthermore, the NTSB, after conducting laboratory analysis on the stabilizer's

actuator An actuator is a component of a machine that is responsible for moving and controlling a mechanism or system, for example by opening a valve. In simple terms, it is a "mover". An actuator requires a control device (controlled by control signal) a ...

, found no evidence of pre-existing damage or failure, and later issued a comment on the DGAC's findings that there was "no factual data that supports he hypothesis of a horizontal stabilizer failure" The report concluded that the probable cause of the accident was "loss of control of the aircraft for undetermined reasons." It was also established that the flight crew was in breach of local regulations regarding age limits and qualifications. The captain, 78, had exceeded the maximum age allowed for his role, while the co-pilot, 21, did not hold a valid

type rating A type rating is an authorization entered on or associated with a pilot licence and forming part thereof, stating pilot's privileges or limitations pertaining to certain aircraft type. Such qualification requires additional training beyond the s ...

for the Learjet 25.

References

External links

Directorate General of Civil Aeronautics documents *
Informes de Dictámenes

Archive

ErrataArchive
*
La DGAC da a conocer informe sobre accidente de aeronave en el Rancho "El Tejocote"

Archive
– 3 December 2013
PDF versionArchive
National Transportation Safety Board documents: *
ATTACHMENT 1 Bombardier Learjet 25 Service Manual Excerpt

Archive
*
Page from N345MC Airplane Maintenance Log Book Regarding Horizontal Stabilizer Actuator

Archive
*
Computed Tomography Specialist’s Factual Report

Archive
. DCA-12-RA-025. 13 March 2014. *
Performance Study

Archive
. *
Weather Study

Archive
– 10 December 2012 {{DEFAULTSORT:Mexico Learjet 25 crash, 2012 2012 disasters in Mexico 21st century in Nuevo León Accidents and incidents involving the Learjet 45 family Aviation accidents and incidents in 2012 2012 Learjet 25 crash Learjet 25 crash Jenni Rivera