NAPLES, Fla. — Longtime pilot and visiting instructor at the Florida Institute of Technology Shem Malquist shared with Fox 4 what goes into plane crash investigations.d
Read more on the Bombardier Challenger 600 crash Friday afternoon here.
The National Transportation Safety Board said the pilot of the Bombardier Challenger 600 reported dual engine failure as they approached the Naples Airport, their final destination.
"To have both engines fail is much more rare," Malquist said.
He compared the situation to when Sully Sullenberger landed a jet in the Hudson River after both engines went out in 2009.
"We do not train to condition where both engines fail and cannot get them restarted again, and although, it happens very rarely," Malquist said. "It’s not a part of the training scenario and absent from the checklist pilots use."
Malquist said if one engine failed, the airplane could still fly.
"He said what people saw on I-75, the jet turns into a glide," he said.
Malquist added the best option was to land the plane on interstate, hoping that cars can quickly react.
“The interstate is the clearest place to least likely cause major damage landing in the direction traffic is moving,” Malquist said.
He said the investigation will be a difficult because of the plane’s owner.
“Unlike airlines, most corporate operators really aren't equip to manage that type of situation, so this is going to be a challenge,” Malquist.
He said investigators will first want to know the cause for both engines to go out and will most likely start looking at the jet’s fuel history.
"It looks like the pilots did the very best they could with a very bad situation," Malquist said.
