20010905024799A

(.19) On September 5, 2001, at 1313 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-31-350, N8PK, operated by panda air, limited, ferndale, new york, was destroyed when it impacted terrain in bern township, Pennsylvania. The airplane was returning for landing, shortly after takeoff from Reading regional/Carl a. Spaatz field, Reading, Pennsylvania, when the accident occurred. The certificated airline transport pilot was fatally injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time, and no flight plan had been filed for the flight to orange county airport (mgj), montgomery, new york. The positioning flight was conducted under 14 CFR part 91. The Reading air traffic control tower was operating a combined ground/local controller position. At 1301, the pilot called for ground taxi, and was advised to taxi to runway 36. At 1310, the pilot called "ready to go three six be a right turnout." He was then cleared to take off from runway 36, and make a right turnout on course. At 1312, while a ground vehicle was talking to the tower controller on the ground frequency, the pilot called the tower on the local frequency to report he had a problem. Due to the two transmissions being simultaneous, the pilot's words were unintelligible. About 10 seconds after the pilot's initial call, the tower controller asked him if he required any assistance. When the pilot did not respond, the controller transmitted that he understood the pilot was returning for a landing, and again asked if the pilot required any assistance. The pilot's response was unintelligible. At 1313, the controller told the pilot to fly left traffic for runway 36. He also gave the pilot the current weather, and stated that runway 31 was available. There were no further communications from the pilot. In a subsequent radio transmission to a ground vehicle, the tower controller stated that the airplane had disappeared behind a hill in a vertical descent. According to one witness, a former air crash/rescue airport employee and current police officer, he was in his house about 1/4 mile from the departure end of runway 36, when he heard the airplane fly overhead. One of the engines sounded "strange", as if it was not making full power. The witness went outside, and saw that the airplane was about 200 feet in the air, and puffs of white smoke were coming from the rear of the left engine. The engine, however, was still operating, and did not sound like it was "missing". The airplane then made a left turn, toward the northwest, and eventually began a left bank, as if to land on runway 13. It then did a "snap roll real hard to the right," entered a nose-dive, and disappeared below a tree line. The next thing the witness saw was a plume of black smoke rise from the area. The witness remembered thinking that if the left engine had lost power, he would have expected the airplane to roll to the left. He could not understand why it rolled to the right. Another witness was in his car and stopped at a traffic light, heading northwest, just northwest of Reading airport. He saw the airplane come into view from his right, and move to his left while climbing. The witness estimated that the airplane was about 1,000 feet in the air and was "really moving, like it was under full power." The airplane then flew over a tree line, banked hard to the left, and entered a sharp dive towards the ground. The dive was not straight down, but the airplane was "very nose down." The witness lost sight of the airplane as it went below the tree line, but shortly thereafter, he saw a huge round ball of smoke rise from the area. A third witness reported that he was standing in an athletic complex, about five football fields away from the accident site, when the accident occurred. The airplane was between the witness and the airport. The witness stated that his attention was drawn to the airplane because he was used to the sounds of other airplanes and this one just didn't sound right. The airplane didn't have the regular hum of a normal airplane; "it sounded like a giant saw in a saw mill." It was louder than normal, and "not in rhythm." It sounded like "a 'putt-putt-putt;' like it was running out of gas." The witness saw smoke coming out of the airplane. He originally thought the airplane was single-engine, because when he first saw it, it was in an angle of bank, and he could not see two engines. Then he saw it make a "real quick" nose-dive, and lost sight of it as it went below a tree line. The witness was sure that the pilot had no control of the airplane when it suddenly dropped. A fourth witness was an engine mechanic who heard, but did not see the accident. He stated that he heard one engine running smoothly, and the other engine "popped." It sounded like a "lean pop," like an automobile engine not getting enough gas; it did not sound like an ignition problem. According to smoothed radar tracking data, at 13:12:09, the airplane was 360 degrees magnetic, 1.13 nautical miles (NM) from the Reading radar antenna, at an altitude of 1,100 feet MSL (airport elevation was 344 feet), and heading 344 degrees at an airspeed of 101 knots. At 13:12:13, it was 357 degrees, 1.25 NM from the radar antenna, at 1,100 feet, and heading 332 degrees at 106 knots. At 13:12:17, it was 349 degrees, 1.39 NM from the radar antenna, at 1,200 feet, and heading 314 degrees at 114 knots. At 13:12:23, it was 346 degrees, 1.54 NM from the radar antenna, at 1,200 feet, and heading 306 degrees at 119 knots. At 13:12:27, it was 342 degrees, 1.64 NM from the radar antenna, at 1,300 feet, and heading 297 degrees at 124 knots. At 13:12:32, it was 336 degrees, 1.71 NM from the radar antenna, at 1,300 feet, and heading 278 degrees at 134 knots. At 13:12:37, it was 328 degrees, 1.68 NM from the radar antenna, at 1,300 feet, and heading 256 degrees at 145 knots. At 13:12:41, it was 322 degrees, 1.73 NM from the radar antenna, at 1,400 feet, and heading 239 degrees at 151 knots. At 13:12:46, it was 315 degrees, 1.77 NM fromthe radar antenna, at 1,400 feet, and heading 239 degrees at 156 knots. At 13:12:51, it was 307 degrees, 1.79 NM from the radar antenna, at 1,300 feet, and heading 228 degrees at 163 knots. At 13:12:55, it was 299 degrees, 1.79 NM from the radar antenna, at 1,300 feet, and heading 218 degrees at 169 knots. At 13:13:00, it was 294 degrees, 1.84 NM from the radar antenna, at 1,100 feet, and heading 219 degrees at 173 knots. The wreckage was located in a residential area, about 290 degrees, 1.6 NM from the Reading airport radar antenna. The initial ground scar was located at 40 degrees, 22.84 minutes north latitude, 75 degrees, 59.87 minutes west longitude. The initial ground scar, about a foot wide and 6 inches deep, was oriented along a 200-degree magnetic axis. Parts of the counterweight assembly from the right aileron were found in, and near the beginning of the ground scar. About 35 feet from the beginning of the ground scar, there was a 2-foot-deep hole which contained the hub and propeller blades from the right engine. About 15 feet beyond the first hole, there was another 2-foot-deep hole, which contained the separated propeller blades from the right engine. About 55 feet beyond the left engine propeller assembly was the right engine. After the right engine, the axis of the wreckage path angled about 30 degrees to the right. The left engine was about 70 feet beyond the right engine, and the majority of the fuselage and empennage was about 50 feet beyond that. The wiring bundle from the cockpit was rolled up, and about 120 feet beyond the main wreckage. Additional wreckage and parts fanned out for about another 200 feet. All flight control surfaces were accounted for at the accident scene. Control continuity could not be confirmed due to the extent of fire and impact damage to the airplane. However, the ends of the control cables were broom-strawed in appearance. The flaps and landing gear were up, and the aileron trim was set to 1/4 right. The elevator trim setting could not be determined. The airplane's cockpit and instrument panel were destroyed by fire and ground impact. Parts of a graphic engine monitor were recovered; however, the computer memory chip containing stored engine information was not found. Three propeller blades were in each propeller assembly. Two of the blades remained attached to the right engine propeller hub. One propeller blade had leading edge damage, including a missing blade tip, chordwise scoring, and was bent aft about 20 degrees. The second propeller blade had no significant damage. The third propeller blade was broken off the hub, and had about an 80-degree bend. The hub had some evidence of rotational scoring; however, the major deformations of the hub face were in an aft direction, consistent with a flush impact with the ground. In the left engine propeller assembly, all three propeller blades were separated from the hub, and about 80 percent buried in the ground with the blade tips sticking out, more or less vertically. One propeller blade was bent aft about 60 degrees. The blade tip leading edge was missing, and there was some leading edge damage. The second propeller blade had part of the de-ice strip missing; however, there was very little damage to the blade. The third propeller blade had slight s-bending, no leading edge damage, and some chordwise scratching. The hub face was deformed in an aft direction, consistent with a flush impact with the ground. The hub was found 4 1/2 feet under the surface, facing downwards. The engines were moved to a hangar for further examination. Crankshaft continuity was confirmed, and compression was confirmed on all cylinders except the number 1 (right, most forward) cylinder of the right engine, which was impact-damaged. Piston movement was observed on that cylinder. The engines were also bore-scoped, with no evidence of detonation or non-impact internal damage. The turbochargers from both engines were examined. The right engine turbocharger had been separated from the engine, and its impeller blades were obliterated. The impeller blades from the left engine turbocharger were intact, with outboard tip bending of some of the blades. The exhaust pipes from both engines were bent and folded. The accident airplane was equipped with counter-rotating engines and a vortex generator (vg) kit installed. Prior to the accident flight, the airplane had been at aerodynamics of Reading, incorporated, for maintenance. Aerodynamics operated two PA-31-350'S of its own, and maintained three more for companies other than panda air. According to aircraft maintenance records, among the work items completed, was the adjustment of left engine manifold air pressure, the alignment of both engine breather tubes, 50 hour and 100 hour maintenance inspections, and the removal and reinstallation of the left elevator to install rivets. The airplane's fuel tanks were topped off before departure, and a witness saw the pilot put three quarts of oil in the left engine. The two-sided oil dipstick used in both engines had ruled markings on each side. One side of the dipstick applied to the oil quantity in the right engine, the other side, to the left engine. The side for the right engine was calibrated to read about 1 3/4 quarts lower than the left engine due to dipstick/oil sump location. According to representatives from the engine and airframe manufacturers, as well as the maintenance facility and airplane operator, excess oil in an engine would have been discharged from the engine breather tube, and could have hit the exhaust pipes. The pilot held an airline transport pilot certificate, with ratings for single engine and multi-engine airplanes. He was also a certificated flight instructor in single and multi-engine airplanes, and instrument-airplane. His latest federal aviation administration (FAA) second class medical certificate was dated December 15, 2000. The pilot's logbook was not recovered. On his resume provided to panda air, he statedthat he had 3,210 hours of flight time, including 1,385 hours in multi-engine airplanes and 1,150 hours as a flight instructor. According to company records, he began flying the PA-31-350 on July 30, 2001, and had 20.2 hours in the airplane prior to the accident flight. Company personnel also stated that the week before the accident flight, the pilot had practiced numerous simulated engine-out scenarios. He had also been deemed proficient by the company training captain to begin flying solo 14 CFR part 91 flights, in preparation for a 14 CFR part 135 checkride. The flight to Reading was his first solo flight in the airplane. Weather, recorded at Reading regional airport 19 minutes before the accident, included winds from 360, variable 330 to 030 degrees true at 7 knots, clear skies, visibility 10 statute miles, temperature 68 degrees fahrenheit, dewpoint 54 degrees fahrenheit, and altimeter 30.13 inches. (-23) the pilot departed Reading airport (rdg) on runway 36. After takeoff the pilot radioed he had a problem and was returning to the field. The pilot made a left turn to return to the field for runway 13 (possible). The air craft then did a snap roll hard to the right and entered a nose-dive. The aircraft was destroyed and the pilot was fatally injured. The NTSB is investigating the accident.