Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Weight problem offered as cause of plane crash

A preliminary National Transportation Safety Board report on the Christmas Day plane crash at North Las Vegas Airport that killed six people leads a flight school owner to believe the plane was simply overloaded.

But a former airplane crash investigator said that while weight and balance might have been a factor, the accident could also have been caused by a yet-to-be-discovered mechanical problem, or a problem with the control that makes the nose of the plane go up and down.

Whatever the cause of the plane's problems, Jane Pinto, owner of First Flight Aviation, said in her opinion the pilot's fatal mistake was that he tried to turn the plane back to the airport runway instead of crash land on the desert just beyond the airport boundary.

"He was not high enough off the ground to make a turn," Pinto said. "We call it the impossible turn ... Even under the best circumstances you shouldn't turn until you reach 300 feet and ideally 500 feet."

This is because when a plane turns it is draining power that would be used to keep the plane climbing, she said.

But G. Robert Deiro, a manager of the North Las Vegas Airport in the 1960s and former director of the Aviation Safety Board for the Nevada Safety Council, said that while a pilot should try to land straight ahead, this pilot might have had too many obstacles in front of him, including nearby high-tension power lines, a concrete drainage channel, and road between the end of the runway and desert.

"Usually your only option is to land straight ahead. But he didn't have many options," said Deiro, who estimated he has investigated more than 150 plane crashes.

The NTSB's preliminary report does not say what caused the six-seat Beechcraft A-36 Bonanza to crash. A probable cause determination isn't likely to be released for nine months to a year, investigators have said.

Two children and their parents and grandparents died in the crash, which happened soon after the plane took off around 1:20 p.m. on Dec. 25.

Henry Waldman, 68, a retired Air Force colonel and Vietnam-era fighter pilot with 30 years' experience flying, was the pilot. The others on the plane were his wife, Vivienne Waldman of Redondo Beach, Calif., their daughter and son-in-law from Las Vegas, Steven and Susan Maini, and the Maini's children, Jack, 12, and Michele, 6.

Family members have said they believe the crash was caused by mechanical problems. The family could not be reached for comment.

The NTSB preliminary report does include summaries of witness statements and a description of the condition of major engine parts.

The report states that a flight instructor who witnessed the crash told the lead investigator that just after takeoff the plane's nose "went up quickly to an 'extremely nose high' attitude."

The plane then leveled off, the landing gear went up, and the plane "stopped mushing, but it was not gaining much altitude."

Pinto said "mush" is pilot slang for what a plane does just before stalling. An airplane stalls when air stops flowing smoothly over the wings, causing the pilot to lose control.

At the end of the runway, the plane turned right, the nose went up again and the plane began to mush again, the report said. Then the plane crashed nose first into a concrete drainage canal on the edge of the airport near Carey Avenue.

The witness, who was identified only as a certified flight instructor, did not see any smoke, fluids or parts coming form the plane before the crash, the report said.

Other crash witnesses said the plane burst into flames when it hit the ground. An investigator said the pilot told the control tower he was having engine trouble before crashing.

Pinto said her educated guess that the plane was overloaded is based on the witness's statement that the plane's nose went up quickly and extremely high just after take off.

"That's an overloaded plane with too much weight in the back," Pinto said after reading the report. "It's obvious to me that that's what the problem was."

Also factoring into Pinto's assessment are reports that the plane was full of fuel, had the maximum six passengers on board, plus possibly luggage, all of which can weigh down a plane, she said.

"Most people around here when they heard there were six people and a full fuel tank, the first thing they all say is, 'Yeah, they were overweight,' " Pinto said.

She said that maybe the pilot thought there was something wrong with the engine because the plane was not performing as he was accustomed to it flying.

Pinto said because of the crash she will give a free seminar on weight and balance on Jan. 10 at the airport.

Deiro said the report that the nose went up very high is a significant piece of information because it's far from typical, and not something a pilot would purposely do.

While weight and balance could affect the pitch on takeoff, Deiro said he thinks that perhaps the plane's controls were either set wrong, jammed, or broke and moved on their own into a position that directed the nose to go up at a steep angle.

"It's a terrible tragedy," Deiro said. "But we won't know until the NTSB completes its investigation why this happened."

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