A small plane that crashed last month as it approached a suburban New York airport, killing two people on board, had a damaged engine that led the aircraft to bleed oil, according to an investigation by National Transportation Safety Board.
Investigators said they found a hole in the top of the crankcase and noted fresh oil at the bottom of the fuselage, which apparently caused the plane to fly poorly.
The single-engine Beechcraft A36 was flying from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to the Cuyahoga County Airport in Richmond Heights, Ohio, on Jan. 19.
The pilot had radioed air traffic controllers that the plane was approaching the White Plains airport with a “dead cylinder,” but then went silent not long after broadcasting, “mayday mayday mayday mayday.”
The aircraft was about a mile (1.6 km) from the Westchester County Airport at around 6:15 p.m. The airport is near White Plains, about 39 miles (63 km) north of JFK.
Boruch Taub Z”L and Binyamin Chafetz Z”L, both residents of Cleveland, were R”L killed in the crash.
(AP)
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5 Responses
Sad!
Who is responsible for overseeing the engines and the aircraft safety of these private planes? Is the the pilot’s obligation?
The plane was a rental, its the rental company obligation for its upkeep, the pilot checks out the plane before he leaves.
Nothing posted on the NTSB site yet.
Pilot is ultimately responsible for the decision to fly/no fly. If they would of seen leaking oil as of the preflight walk-around I highly doubt they would of taken off.
NTSB will now check engine maintenance records and see what what done up to that point. Disasters like this are a culmination of multiple errors that compound until something happens. This investigation is not over yet
if a problem isn’t repaired it is murder…..it is a criminal action…..
Depends who was owner of aircraft, or rented either way pilots are trained in routine pre flight check, not sure if this was visible b4 takeoff and part of preflight check, would think most probably rely on maintenance check of garage housing plane, Sad story R’l Hashem diyan almanos veysomiem.