10 September 2014

Report: Poor Weather Contributed to Plane Crash

From the Alaska Dispatch News:

Poor weather conditions contributed to an airplane crash last summer outside the Interior community of Cantwell that left three people dead, according to a probable cause report released Monday by the National Transportation Safety Board.

The wreckage of the twin-engine Beech Baron 95-B55, which crashed June 28, 2013, near the Interior Alaska community of Cantwell. Courtesy Alaska State Troopers

 The NTSB found that the plane had flown into instrument meteorological conditions -- weather that requires pilots to fly primarily using instruments, and in closer contact with air traffic control -- but that the pilot was flying operating under visual flight rules. That circumstance "resulted in an in-flight collision with mountainous terrain,” the report states. 

Weather at the time was reported as broken clouds about 250 to 300 feet above ground level, overcast clouds about 350 feet above ground level, with thin wispy fog hanging in the trees.

The probable cause report mirrors the findings of the NTSB's preliminary report released last summer.

Tragic; our hearts go out to the families of the victims.

And I wish we didn't have to say that so often.

2 comments:

Old NFO said...

Sad... and preventable...

Rev. Paul said...

So true, NFO. It didn't need to happen.