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Commuter Plane Crash Investigation Hampered by Blank Recorder

NTSB member George Black, right, fields another question as he and Investigator In Charge Frank Hilldrup, left, conduct a news conference on the crash Sunday of a chartered plane carring 19 people from Atlantic City, N.J., to Wilkes-Barre, Pa. (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Photo)

May 23  Investigators today will sort through the remains of the commuter plane crash that killed 19 people for clues to the cause of the crash. But they will get no help from the cockpit voice recorder, which was blank, officials said.

National Transit Safety Board investigator George Black said the cockpit voice recorder was not working properly at the time of Sundays crash. The recorder, he said, was found in relatively good condition in the tail of the plane, but the tape was blank. According to Black, investigators did not know right now why the recorder failed to work, but only that the cockpit recorder did not have the appropriate electrical power to record the crash.

This seriously hampers the investigation, lets face it, Black said. We dont have data records. This is somewhat disappointing, but well have to do our best without it.

Black was not prepared to say whether any federal aviation regulations were broken in maintenance of the cockpit voice recording. He stressed that investigators were still trying to figure out why the cockpit recorder failed to work and if there was any wrongdoing. Black also noted that model A100A commuter planes like the one that crashed were not required to have flight data recorders.

Without the cockpit recording, NTSB officials have only the accounts of eyewitnesses and earwitnesses, radar data, and tapes of the pilots alert for help to aid their investigation. NTSB investigators, Black said, have requested and obtained the original tape of communication between the tower and the cockpit pilots shortly before the crash. Investigators have also requested radar data, are still interviewing witnesses, and are trying to obtain copies of the privately made recordings of the cockpit pilots communication with the tower.

After their Monday news conference, NTSB officials obtained a draft transcript of the dialogue between air traffic control and the pilots, and Black said they were satisfied that tower workers tried their best to help the pilots. Investigators are scheduled to meet with air traffic control officials Wednesday.

Similiar Stories In addition, the owner of the aircraft told the NTSB that the plane had been rewired before the crash. However, Black said, investigators have to retrace the planes rewiring through various records because of the damage caused by the crash.

Black said officials interviewed three people who heard the plane crash and another person who saw it.

All of the earwitnesses gave remarkably consistent information, saying that there was a sound in the engines that reflected an increase in power, Black said. The eyewitness said the plane was level with its [landing] gear up when it disappeared over the tree line.

Officials said both engines cut out just before a commuter plane plummeted. There were no survivors. The plane, chartered by a casino, crashed about 9 miles south of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport. It made two failed attempts to land.

It appeared that both of the chartered turbo props engines failed, said Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Tammy Jones.

The BA-31 Jetstream was en route to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Airport through foggy skies with 17 passengers and two crew members when it crashed in heavy woods at 11:48 a.m., officials said.

Investigators found a ball of fire at the scene, Jones said. The weather was bad, it was windy and there was some precipitation. The visibility was poor.

We Lost Both Engines On a portion of the air-traffic control tape, one pilot can be heard saying tell him we lost both engines. The other pilot replies: We lost both engines, Six Echo Juliet.

There was no mention of any emergency or engine problem until the second approach, Black said.

Michael Peragine, Executive Airlines chief executive officer, said today that the pilot had 8,500 hours of flight time, including 4,000 hours on the type of plane that crashed, and the first officer was close to being upgraded to pilot.

These were two expert pilots and the machine was maintained to the highest standards. You just dont have a clue as to what could have possibly happened, Peragine said.

Deeply Saddened

We are deeply saddened by this tragic accident, said Wallace Barr, executive vice president of Park Place Entertainment, which owns Caesars. Our sincere condolences and sympathies are with the families at this time.

Airport Superintendent Jim Brunozzi said his nieces mother-in-law and father-in-law were on the plane.

That was tough to look at the manifest and see the names, he said. We were a close family. Its sad.

Anthony J. Giannone, airport ground superintendent, had to console a friend whose wife was on the plane. Hes got two small kids, and he had to leave here to tell them, Giannone said.

Its a small, close community, and thats what I think makes it so hard, said Lackawanna County Commissioner Randy Castellani, who arrived soon after the crash.

Plane Has No History of Problems Black said the BA-31 Jetstream does not have a history of problems.

There are a lot of them in operation, he said. Its a very common short haul [plane].

ABCNEWS aviation analyst John Nance agreed that the plane has a superlative history, and that for even a single engine to fail would be extremely unlikely.

These are turbo props  jet engines geared to a propellor, Nance said. To have two [engines] fail for mechanical reasons is almost an infinitesimal possibility. There is a possibility of fuel starvation, but that remains to be seen.

There were three crashes of similar model airplanes in the 1990s, the last coming in December 1994 at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina, killing 15 of 20 people aboard.

Todays crash appeared to be the worst in Pennsylvania since 1994, when a USAir 737 crashed near Pittsburgh, killing all 132 people aboard.

Wilkes-Barre is 150 miles northwest of Atlantic City, N.J.

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/pa_planecrash000522.html

-- perry (perry@ofuzzy1.com), May 23, 2000