Blog #4 Aspen

There were many factors that contributed to this accident. The very first was the attitude of the flight crew. They are paid to safely operate the airplane according to company policy. If they had this mindset, the "pressure" from the "boss" would not have been a factor and the flight would have diverted to Rifle.
The second the crews inability to decipher  and their decision to ignore the aircraft configuration warning. The radar showed the airport to the left of the aircraft while the FO thought he saw the airport to the right. This discrepancy with the weather conditions as they were should have been enough to warrant a missed approach. Their decision to ignore the aircraft configuration warning was a poor decision in itself. They were violating company policy by having the spoilers out with landing gear and landing flaps out. If they did this intentionally they would be displaying hazardous attitudes such as invulnerability and macho along with anti-authority. If it was unintentional it just points to either the crews inability to handle the work load or incompetence to operate the aircraft according to company and manufacture policy.
The third and major contributing factor was that the airport control tower was unaware of a NOTAM concerning the instrument approach not being authorized at night. This was a MAJOR break down of the NOTAM disseminating system. Although the tower should have been informed, the crew was informed and mentioned the restriction multiple times so they should have heeded the restriction and diverted.

The highly critical analysis of this accident may seem harsh but it is needed. As a pilot and especially as captain, you are solely responsible for the safe operation of the aircraft. The people who charter, ride, or thus by their way onto the airplane inherent NO RISK. No matter what their social status a pilot must know the rules which restrict him, know his and the aircraft limitations and let no other outside force influence those, because in reality they can not be influenced. Those limitations are set and as a professional pilot, you must have enough confidence in your decision making ability as well as your knowledge to be in control of the flight from intent to fly to locking the door after exiting the aircraft.