Addison (1080 KRLD) - The National Transportation Safety Board has placed blame for a fatal plane crash at the Addison Airport on June 30, 2019, on the pilot.
The pilot, a co-pilot and eight passengers were killed seconds after the plane took off, lost an engine and banked into a hanger. The plane exploded on impact.
"The pilot's failure to maintain airplane control following a reduction of thrust in the left engine during takeoff." the NTSB said as it listed the probable cause for the crash. "The reason for the reduction in thrust could not be determined. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's failure to conduct the airplane manufacturer's emergency procedure following a loss of power in one engine and to follow the manufacturer's checklists during all phases of operation."
The King Air 350 had taken off from the airport's runway 15 at 9:10 that fateful morning. Six seconds later the pilot stated "what in the world?" according to the NTSB's final report. Investigators were able to determine the left engine of the plane had started losing power. Within three seconds the co-pilot stated, "you just lost your left engine."
Within 10 seconds the plane crashed into the hanger and was immediately engulfed in flames.
"Although the co-pilot verbally identified the loss of the left engine in response to the pilot's confused reaction to the airplane's performance shortly after takeoff, it is likely the co-pilot did not initiate any corrective flight control inputs, possibly due to the pilot's established practice of being the sole operator of flight controls when passengers were on board." the report says.
"The available evidence indicates that the pilot improperly responded to the loss of thrust in the left engine by initially commanding a left rudder input and did not retract the landing gear or feather the left propeller, which was not consistent with the airplane manufacturer's engine out procedure during takeoff. It would have been possible to maintain directional and lateral control of the airplane after the thrust reduction in the left engine if right rudder had been commanded initially rather than left rudder."
While the NTSB did not address what may have caused the engine to fail, it is an issue in at least one civil suit over the crash.
"There have been issues with those aircraft with those aircraft with …the friction knobs if you will related to the throttles," said Kent Krause, an aviation attorney representing some of the victims. "Whether that problem came up and started the dominos that caused this, that is unclear at this point but that certainly is a possibility."
The crash was recorded from several angles by surveillance cameras.
