Netjets 680 down on Highway in Laredo

DavidWhite

DavidWhite

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No details other than no post-crash fire. Fuselage appears to be in multiple pieces. No status on crew/pax.

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A buddy recently retired from a long gig at Netjets. First class operation. Hope all survived...

Edit: Talked to the buddy. FWIW he says the rumor mill has floated the theory the crew may have been on their 3rd leg, and presumed tired. His theory (WAG) is a late night pressurization problem required the diversion into Laredo. He claims the Cessna Latitude has a manual pressurization control that if selected during a problem and not attended to for 8+ minutes on the way down, begins shutting down systems. He doesn't have anything yet to share beyond his (and his contacts) initial speculations.
 
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For awareness:

N523QS, Cessna Longitude. Departed San Jose Del Cabo (MMSD) at 0118z, originally bound for Austin (KAUS). Descended from FL430, then flew a wide 270° right turn SE of the Laredo airport to line up with runway 36L. At about 2nm from the threshold it looks like it veered right and about a mile later crashed onto TX-20 loop, roughly 1.5nm SE of the 36L threshold at 0258z.

IMG_8496.jpeg

Nothing notable about the weather in Laredo:

METAR KLRD 170256Z 11003KT 10SM CLR 28/24 A2975 RMK AO2 SLP071 6//// T02780244 53011 PNO $
 
Oddities in reports, but one dead, for sure. "Five injured" in one story are five police officers, removing passengers. If so we can assume that more inside were injured, given the condition of the wreckage.
 
Bacho said:
Not much of a fire…
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Which is good, but also an possible clue that isn't so good. But nothing bigger than a Skylane runs outta gas.
Video of rescue ops:
 
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edited for clarity: Both Captain and FO got out.
 
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Per FlightAware, it was their fourth leg in an 11 hr duty day- since took off at 10:21 am from DEN - ( unless they changed crews) ….a beautiful, fast and sophisticated business jet in a two airmen crew configuration; per Metar a clear night too…..Very sad!
 
Should be a straightforward investigation, seeing how both pilots are alive and remained conscious through the letdown and egress.
 
AV8R_87 said:
I wonder if that fatality was sitting right where the fuselage split.
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No, because it split behind the cabin at the pressure bulkhead. He was likely to be seated in the rear right seat.
 
No post crash fire? …….maybe no fuel left in the tanks?. (Little fire seen could have been from hydraulics fluid burning……
 
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Current company rumor is the Captain was a former USAF pilot (possibly Stealth & F-16 pilot - based in Denver). The FO was hired in January 2026. Netjet matches all new hires with only experienced Captains as their mentors.

According to my source (a recently retired Netjet Captain), in his opinion there is a wide variation of skill and former flying experience found in newly hired FO's. His concern is how useful weaker ones will perform under stress (the startle effect) during a serious emergency. Netjets current company hiring policy requires a minimum of 1500 hours TT with 0 multi. Multi-engine training is done on the SIM.

He doesn't have a clue about what caused their deviation, descent and ultimate loss of power. But reiterated how the Latitude's flight computer can turn off on its own during certain circumstances, leaving the cockpit dark as it reverts over to basic battery powered emergency instrumentation having 3 hours worth of battery life.
 
They filed "MOV UJ31 PNG VIDAA DXEEE3". Most likely they were delayed and knew AUS customs would be closed but didn't want to go through the Mexican rigmarole to refile. Looks like they went direct LRD (24 hour customs) right after deviating for the TSTMS. Last flight path per Juan Browne was 700 fpm at 100 to 90 GS, almost like a powered approach with a flare. Gear and flaps down. Inconceivable that they might have jigged to line up on perceived runway lights. Wings and fuel tanks look intact with possible fuel fire from severed fuel lines from tank to fuselage.
 
Some of the NetJet Latitude pilots are now speculating that they may have lost electrical power which drops out the auto throttles. Also, the death of the customer's CEO was likely due to sitting in seat #6 which was penetrated by the light pole that heavily damaged that section of the fuselage. We'll be finding out.


IMG_1068.jpegIMG_1070.jpeg

Edit: Added to photos
 
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JimLAFB said:
They filed "MOV UJ31 PNG VIDAA DXEEE3". Most likely they were delayed and knew AUS customs would be closed but didn't want to go through the Mexican rigmarole to refile. Looks like they went direct LRD (24 hour customs) right after deviating for the TSTMS. Last flight path per Juan Browne was 700 fpm at 100 to 90 GS, almost like a powered approach with a flare. Gear and flaps down. Inconceivable that they might have jigged to line up on perceived runway lights. Wings and fuel tanks look intact with possible fuel fire from severed fuel lines from tank to fuselage.
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Also they may have realized in mid flight that they did not have enough fuel to make it to AUS and deviated to LRD ( a possible fuel leak, a conversion error from gallons to liters or from pounds to litters in Mexico ….?)
 
Apparently, minus a fuel leak enroute, the Latitude has a low probability of leaving Mexico short of fuel. Note in the upper right corner of the MFD, the "FOD" is Fuel Onboard at Destination in pounds. The fuel is automatically calculated from sensors in the fuel tanks directly to the onboard computer system, programmed to the planned route. Allegedly bypassing any pilot or ground fueler induced errors.

7E21F250-5386-4315-8540-31CFBC3B77C9.JPEG
 
Rick A said:
Some of the NetJet Latitude pilots are now speculating that they may have lost electrical power which drops out the auto throttles. Also, the death of the customer's CEO was likely due to sitting in seat #6 which was penetrated by the light pole that heavily damaged that section of the fuselage. We'll be finding out.


View attachment 152800View attachment 152801

Edit: Added to photos
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The good thing is that both pilots are alive and will be contributing to the investigation; plus the CVR and FDR data if it was equipped
 
Rick A said:
Current company rumor is the Captain was a former USAF pilot (possibly Stealth & F-16 pilot - based in Denver). The FO was hired in January 2026. Netjet matches all new hires with only experienced Captains as their mentors.

According to my source (a recently retired Netjet Captain), in his opinion there is a wide variation of skill and former flying experience found in newly hired FO's. His concern is how useful weaker ones will perform under stress (the startle effect) during a serious emergency. Netjets current company hiring policy requires a minimum of 1500 hours TT with 0 multi. Multi-engine training is done on the SIM.

He doesn't have a clue about what caused their deviation, descent and ultimate loss of power. But reiterated how the Latitude's flight computer can turn off on its own during certain circumstances, leaving the cockpit dark as it reverts over to basic battery powered emergency instrumentation having 3 hours worth of battery life.
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People with zero multi engine most likely do not get hired at net jets.

The only hard requirements at my legacy airline is an unrestricted ATP with the legal right to work in the USA.

It means nothing.

While I agree there most like is a big disparity between the lowest and highest qualified new hire at NJ no one should think the lowest experienced is any where near that inexperienced.

NJ is a highly sought after career position and they can be very selective.
 
Many times after an aviation accident, the NTSB will come out within 24 hrs and have an informal QA session with the press and general public with an initial preliminary details of the accident (more so where there are deaths involved), it has been 44 hrs since the accident and no initial NTSB public statement that am aware of;……. Notwithstanding when the pilots survived and are presumably ok……
 
Cesarmx said:
Many times after an aviation accident, the NTSB will come out within 24 hrs and have an informal QA session with the press and general public with an initial preliminary details of the accident (more so where there are deaths involved), it has been 44 hrs since the accident and no initial NTSB public statement that am aware of;……. Notwithstanding when the pilots survived and are presumably ok……
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They just got the parts moved to a hangar today.
 
Tarheelpilot said:
People with zero multi engine most likely do not get hired at net jets.

The only hard requirements at my legacy airline is an unrestricted ATP with the legal right to work in the USA.

It means nothing.

While I agree there most like is a big disparity between the lowest and highest qualified new hire at NJ no one should think the lowest experienced is any where near that inexperienced.

NJ is a highly sought after career position and they can be very selective.
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Yes, definitely a first class outfit. I was not aware until now that this fatality was their first. Considering they've been in business for 62 years, it's an amazing record.

I was not implying NJ was skimping on hiring or training methods... just surprised that their minimum hours were reduced along with much of the industry. They're currently operating around 260 aircraft, and are supposedly in the process of expanding their fleet to 400.

Obviously, they have been doing a lot of things right.
 
Cesarmx said:
Many times after an aviation accident, the NTSB will come out within 24 hrs and have an informal QA session with the press and general public with an initial preliminary details of the accident (more so where there are deaths involved), it has been 44 hrs since the accident and no initial NTSB public statement that am aware of;……. Notwithstanding when the pilots survived and are presumably ok……
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NTSB IIC Mitchell Gallo provided a press briefing yesterday. As is the case with nearly all NTSB initial briefings, it was 98% boilerplate.

Of the remaining 2%:
Both a CVR and FDR were recovered and sent to DC
LRD was the planned destination
The aircraft had declared an emergency (didn’t say at what point in the flight).
 
Rick A said:
Yes, definitely a first class outfit. I was not aware until now that this fatality was their first. Considering they've been in business for 62 years, it's an amazing record.

I was not implying NJ was skimping on hiring or training methods... just surprised that their minimum hours were reduced along with much of the industry. They're currently operating around 260 aircraft, and are supposedly in the process of expanding their fleet to 400.

Obviously, they have been doing a lot of things right.
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The published minimum experience reductions across the industry don’t reflect anything other than the existence of lawyers and a very litigious society
 
midwestpa24 said:
www.kgns.tv

Footage shows plane circling Laredo prior to fatal crash

Footage shows plane circling Laredo prior to fatal crash
www.kgns.tv www.kgns.tv

If this is true, that certainly changes the narrative of this incident. Running out of fuel doesn't usually cause a big boom in flight.
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That's interesting. Bird ingestion could do that to an engine exhaust plume depending on size of the ingested material and the degree of delay of the compressor stall (also a function of RPM). Hydro fires seldom go out immediately, they usually burn like pressure torches until they run out of fluid or burn through the entirety of the pressurized lines.

Again, FDR plus the pilots are walking around alive and well, should decipher this one pretty quickly.
 
Rick A said:
I was not aware until now that this fatality was their first. Considering they've been in business for 62 years, it's an amazing record.
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Well, of that 62 years Walter Reuther died in a crash at Pellston. That was 16 years before they changed their name to Net Jets, though.
 
midwestpa24 said:
www.kgns.tv

Footage shows plane circling Laredo prior to fatal crash

Footage shows plane circling Laredo prior to fatal crash
www.kgns.tv www.kgns.tv

If this is true, that certainly changes the narrative of this incident. Running out of fuel doesn't usually cause a big boom in flight.
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I don’t believe much of general public eyewitness statements on airplane accidents……..”Circling prior to the crash”…….Yes, the airplane was circling 270 to loose altitude and align with the runway (ADSB out only shows one long long circle, not many). Plus the video is not very clear to me either, Not much positive info here in my opinion!
 
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Cesarmx said:
fast and sophisticated business jet .......
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You can hardly find a slower business jet, additionally its one of the least sophisticated business jets as well. Its a fantastic jet but its only good because its so cheap to operate and it get into tight fileds better than any other plane in category.
 
NJP_MAN said:
You can hardly find a slower business jet, additionally its one of the least sophisticated business jets as well. Its a fantastic jet but its only good because its so cheap to operate and it get into tight fileds better than any other plane in category.
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What airplane are you talking about?
 
Rick A said:
Some of the NetJet Latitude pilots are now speculating that they may have lost electrical power which drops out the auto throttles. Also, the death of the customer's CEO was likely due to sitting in seat #6 which was penetrated by the light pole that heavily damaged that section of the fuselage. We'll be finding out.


View attachment 152800View attachment 152801

Edit: Added to photos
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To lose electrical power would require, loss of 2 engine driven generators, 2 transformer rectifier units, and the APU generator which is the exact same part number as an engine driven unit. Just some food for though.
 
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