Airport News
Flight crew in Addison Airport crash spotted problem with left engine
The flight crew on the plane that crashed at Addison Airport on June 30 noted problems with the left engine, just seconds before the crash occurred.
The crew's conversation in the final seconds before the crash came from the onboard cockpit voice recorder (CVR), recovered by the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the accident.
The plane was a twin-engine Beechcraft BE-350 King Air, which crashed into a hangar at the airport shortly after takeoff at 9:11 am.
All 10 people aboard, including eight passengers and two crew members, died in the accident.
At a press briefing on July 2, NTSB Vice Chairman Bruce Landsberg said that the aircraft was equipped with an L3 FA2100 cockpit recorder, which had recorded two hours of "high quality" audio leading up to the time of the accident.
The recorder indicated that the tower had cleared the flight for takeoff about one minute before the crash.
About 12 seconds before the end of the recording, there were comments from the crew "consistent with confusion."
And then, about 8 seconds before the end of the recording, there were crew comments regarding "a problem with the left engine."
Three seconds before the crash, the plane generated three "automated bank angle oral alerts," indicating that the plane was warning that it was turning inappropriately.
Landsberg said an NTSB group would be reviewing the entire cockpit conversation, and that they were not authorized to say anything else about the CVR data.
The NTSB team is currently working with Lone Star Retrieval, an aircraft and maintenance company in Lancaster, Texas, on wreckage recovery, including separating hangar debris from plane components, which will eventually be transferred to a secure location for analysis.
The plane was headed to St. Petersburg, Florida, when it collided with a hangar and burst into flames.
Passengers included Brian and Ornella Ellard, and her children Alice and Dylan Maritato; Steve and Gina Thelen; and John and Mary Titus. Crew members included Howard Hale Cassady, 71, a resident of Fort Worth and a pilot with extensive flight experience; and co-pilot Matthew "MJ" Palmer, who just got married last year.
