20130524009209A

Summary:

On Friday may 24, 2013, at about 1710 EDT, a 1978 Piper PA-34-200T seneca ii, was destroyed by an apparent in-flight breakup near johnstown, NY. The three persons on-board all incurred fatal injuries. It should be noted that, at the time of this writing, a passenger on-board the aircraft is still missing. Extensive efforts continue to locate the missing person.

The record indicates that an IFR flight plan had been filed for the angel flight (NGF743) which departed bedford, ma hanscom field (kbed) at about 1604 EDT and was destined for griffiss international airport, rome, NY (krme). The pilot had been in contact with controllers and did not report any problems. Radar and radio contact were lost about 1710.

Commencing Friday, may 24, 2013 and continuing through Tuesday, may 28, 2013, an on-site investigation was conducted. The location of parts were documented and collected for a layout and examination.

Several agencies from montgomery and fulton county, as well as state conservation and environmental agencies participated in the search and recovery efforts.

FAA inspector report of ronald j. borrell

On may 24, 2013 at approximately 1830 hours, this inspector was renting a cottage on caroga lake, new york, when the albany FSDO administrative officer (ao), hank crannell knocked on my door and indicated that he learned that a small aircraft may have crashed in a field off of state highway 29 near granny?s ice cream shanty. This inspector, accompanied by ao crannell, drove approximately 15 minutes to the reported aircraft accident location, whereupon, this inspector observed first responders loading a deceased female victim into an emergency vehicle. This inspector identified himself and asked for the person in-charge of the accident scene. This inspector was introduced to a fulton county sheriff?s deputy, sgt. hoffman who provided preliminary information and introduced this inspector to state park ranger, dave russell and lead sheriff?s investigator, mark hollenbeck, who accompanied this inspector to view and search for aircraft wreckage. The investigator took pictures of all located aircraft wreckage and other parts that were identified by this inspector. After approximately two (2) hours of searching the woods, the medical examiner, margret luck, who was accompanying this inspector, was informed that a second body of a male victim had been located near the female victim?s location. An investigation would later reveal that this was the pilot of the accident aircraft, john n. campbell. Also, the emergency locater transponder (ELT) was located near a portion of the fuselage which was photographically documented and deactivated.

Upon completion of a cursory search for the remains of the aircraft, a decision was made, in the interest of safety and due to the loss of daylight, to postpone further search activities until 0900 hours on Saturday, may 25, 2013.

Commencing Saturday, may 25, 2013, this inspector welcomed members of the NTSB team, air safety investigators, allison diaz and steve stein, and provided them with a summary of Friday night?s events. This inspector also provided the team with a sketched diagram of the aircraft wreckage and debris field. During the morning hours, FAA, aviation safety inspector (ASI), mike baringer arrived at the accident scene with the required toxicology boxes to be utilized by the county coroner for faa-cami. Inspector baringer surveilled the left engine and documented and repositioned the engine to facilitate further investigation. The team also observed and assisted in recovery efforts of the right engine and remaining fuselage that were submerged in nearby garoga creek reservoir. Efforts by the new york state police dive team to raise the remaining part of the fuselage were to no avail. However, they were able to float it to a position where a salvage team could more easily remove it from the reservoir.

On Sunday, may 26, 2013, this inspector accompanied the new york state police aviation team in an effort to locate the missing person and observe the debris field and look for other parts of the aircraft which encompassed an approximate 3-5 mile radius from the main fuselage and victims’ location. Medical records of the missing passenger were located nearly five (5) miles from the wreckage.

On Monday, may 27, 2013, the collection and retrieval team met to collect and exam the accessible parts of the aircraft and formalize plans to extract the remaining fuselage from the reservoir.

On Tuesday, may 28, 2013, this inspector met with NTSB and salvage personnel to observe and assist in the retrieval and collection of the remaining aircraft fuselage. It was approximately 1300 hours before the right wing, engine and fuselage; containing the instrument panel, cockpit and 5 seats of a six seat configuration were removed from the reservoir. During the extraction process, this inspector observed that the left pilot seatbelt was fastened in a lap and shoulder harness configuration-three (3) point connection. None of the other seatbelts were fastened. The sixth rear seat configuration of the “club” seating arrangement was located on the southern side of the reservoir. All control continuity; instruments, power settings and instrument configurations were noted and photographed for documentation and further evaluation. Also, NTSB removed any instruments that may contain data associated with aircraft limitations and engine parameters. Upon completion of the removal and extraction of various instruments and navigation equipment, the anglin aircraft recovery services company loaded the aircraft wreckage on a flatbed truck for transportation to an NTSB facility in the state of Delaware whereupon follow-up layout and examination will commence.

On Thursday, may 30, 2013, this inspector received a telephone call from fulton county sheriff, thomas lorey, who advised this inspector that the garoga creek reservoir was completely drained and there was no discovery of the male passenger. He further advised that he was suspending the search until Monday, June 3, 2013, at which time they will resume the search for the missing passenger utilizing cadaver dogs.

Note:

Throughout the course of this investigation, this inspector received numerous requests from various law enforcement agencies and the NTSB for air traffic control (ATC) information pertaining to radar plots, radio communications and weather reports. In an effort to gather the requested information, this inspector solicited the services of inspectors denis hamel and john machemer who were not only instrumental in obtaining the requested documentation, but added their expert knowledge to assist search teams in their efforts to locate the missing victim.

Also, during the investigation, this inspector obtained statements from several individuals that witnessed various phases of the accident. Those statements have been collocated as part of the investigation package that have been shared with the NTSB as part of the follow-up investigation

On June 12, 2013, this inspector received a telephone communication from investigator mark hollenbeck with the fulton county sheriff’s department who informed this inspector that the body of the missing victim of the aircraft accident had been located approximately 100 yards northeast of granny’s ice cream shanty located at 2948 state highway 29, johnstown, new york 12095. The investigator said that an autopsy will be performed to confirm the identity, but based on the evidence; this was most assuredly the missing victim of the accident.

On June 13, 2013, at approximately 2PM, this inspector received a telephone call from investigator hollenbeck of the fulton county sheriff’s department indicating that the identity of the missing victim of the aircraft accident was confirmed to be that of the third passenger onboard the aircraft. He further indicated he would be providing photographic evidence of the recovery location and surrounding area where the victim was located.

This concludes this inspector’s report of the fatal aircraft accident concerning N31743, a Piper PA-34 twin engine aircraft.