ORLANDO, Fla. - Witnesses reported the NASCAR plane that crashed into two homes, killing five people earlier this month, was trailing smoke and wobbling as it flew low and fast before banking and plunging to the ground, federal investigators said Tuesday.
ADVERTISEMENT The National Transportation Safety Board said it will take months to complete the investigation into the July 10 crash.
The agency's five-page preliminary report issued Tuesday did not speculate on a cause of the crash in a residential area of suburban Sanford.
The report said NTSB inspectors found several breaks in the twin-engine Cessna 310's right wing and fuselage control cables. It did not specify what parts of the aircraft those cables would have controlled.
NTSB spokesman Ted Lopatkiewicz said the cables weren't necessarily a factor in the crash because they could have easily snapped upon impact. It's still too early to tell, he said.
"They're just verifying what they can in the wreckage," Lopatkiewicz said of the report.
A longer factual report won't be issued until later this year or early next year, Lopatkiewicz said.
Witnesses had reported seeing smoke trailing from the plane as it sped low over the neighborhood and seeing its wings "rocking" before it sharply banked, clipped treetops and slammed into the homes, the report said.
The crash killed both people aboard the plane, NASCAR Aviation pilot Michael Klemm and Dr. Bruce Kennedy, the husband of International Speedway Corp. President Lesa France Kennedy.
Three people in the homes that were hit and gutted by fire also died: a 24-year-old law student, her 6-month-old son and a 4-year-old neighbor. The 4-year-old's parents and a 10-year-old boy were rescued by an off-duty firefighter living nearby and were hospitalized with severe burns, officials said.
The plane was traveling from Daytona Beach to Lakeland, a 100-mile trip. The pilot reported smoke in the cockpit shortly after reaching 6,000 feet, and air traffic controllers at Sanford Orlando International Airport gave him clearance to land on any runway, according to the report. The last radio transmission, about a half-minute later, was cut off in mid-sentence.
The report did not offer an explanation for the cockpit smoke. NTSB investigators plan to test the plane's electrical components at the board's material laboratory in Washington.
The plane's landing gear and flaps had not been deployed, indicating the pilot was not prepared to land, federal officials have said.
Investigators still aren't sure who was piloting the plane. Kennedy had a pilot's license but was authorized to fly this plane only when accompanied by Klemm, according to the report.
The plane was registered to Competitor Liaison Bureau Inc. of Daytona Beach, which is registered under the name of William C. France, the NASCAR chairman who died last month at 74. Lesa France Kennedy is his daughter.
By Yahoo
ADVERTISEMENT The National Transportation Safety Board said it will take months to complete the investigation into the July 10 crash.
The agency's five-page preliminary report issued Tuesday did not speculate on a cause of the crash in a residential area of suburban Sanford.
The report said NTSB inspectors found several breaks in the twin-engine Cessna 310's right wing and fuselage control cables. It did not specify what parts of the aircraft those cables would have controlled.
NTSB spokesman Ted Lopatkiewicz said the cables weren't necessarily a factor in the crash because they could have easily snapped upon impact. It's still too early to tell, he said.
"They're just verifying what they can in the wreckage," Lopatkiewicz said of the report.
A longer factual report won't be issued until later this year or early next year, Lopatkiewicz said.
Witnesses had reported seeing smoke trailing from the plane as it sped low over the neighborhood and seeing its wings "rocking" before it sharply banked, clipped treetops and slammed into the homes, the report said.
The crash killed both people aboard the plane, NASCAR Aviation pilot Michael Klemm and Dr. Bruce Kennedy, the husband of International Speedway Corp. President Lesa France Kennedy.
Three people in the homes that were hit and gutted by fire also died: a 24-year-old law student, her 6-month-old son and a 4-year-old neighbor. The 4-year-old's parents and a 10-year-old boy were rescued by an off-duty firefighter living nearby and were hospitalized with severe burns, officials said.
The plane was traveling from Daytona Beach to Lakeland, a 100-mile trip. The pilot reported smoke in the cockpit shortly after reaching 6,000 feet, and air traffic controllers at Sanford Orlando International Airport gave him clearance to land on any runway, according to the report. The last radio transmission, about a half-minute later, was cut off in mid-sentence.
The report did not offer an explanation for the cockpit smoke. NTSB investigators plan to test the plane's electrical components at the board's material laboratory in Washington.
The plane's landing gear and flaps had not been deployed, indicating the pilot was not prepared to land, federal officials have said.
Investigators still aren't sure who was piloting the plane. Kennedy had a pilot's license but was authorized to fly this plane only when accompanied by Klemm, according to the report.
The plane was registered to Competitor Liaison Bureau Inc. of Daytona Beach, which is registered under the name of William C. France, the NASCAR chairman who died last month at 74. Lesa France Kennedy is his daughter.
By Yahoo
No comments:
Post a Comment