Crash on test range blamed on pilot’s fatal heart attack

Jace Radke

Friday, July 30, 2004 | 11:09 a.m.

A fatal heart attack suffered by a civilian pilot caused a March 16 plane crash on the Nevada Test and Training Range that killed the four other Las Vegas residents who were passengers on the plane, Air Force officials said.

According to a report released today by the Air Force Materiel Command, David D. Palay Sr., a 57-year-old Las Vegas resident and Air Force employee, suffered the heart attack a little more than six miles from the runway at the Air Force's Tonopah Auxiliary Airfield about 125 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Palay suffered from high blood pressure, but hid this information from military personnel in violation of federal policies, the report states.

"A substantially contributing factor was that the mishap pilot ... willfully ingested inappropriate medications, suppressed significant medical information and deceived flight medical examiners in the presence of a deteriorating and dangerous health condition," the report states.

Palay had denied taking medication. An autopsy showed that he had 90-95 percent obstruction and marked fibrosis of the myocardium, Air Force officials said.

Along with Palay, four contract workers, Derrick L. Butler, 40, Daniel Smalley, 46, Ray Van Voorhis, 56, and Michael A. Izold, age unavailable, all of Las Vegas, were killed in the crash.

The Beechcraft KA 1900 that Palay was flying crashed into the desert, and upon impact broke apart and, "released fuel that immediately engulfed the cockpit and cabin areas in fire and dense smoke," the report states.

The value of the aircraft and equipment lost in the crash totaled about $2 million, Air Force officials said.

The plane was ferrying the workers, all of whom were employees of JT3 LLC, a Las Vegas-based contracting company, from a remote location on the test site to the Tonopah airfield. The workers were involved with the testing of the FA-22 Raptor, the Air Force's newest jet fighter.

Palay and the twin-engine turbo-prop aircraft that could hold as many as 19 passengers, were assigned to the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Palay flew personnel and equipment between test sites and test ranges as part of the Air Force Materiel Command.

Air Force Materiel Command is headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and is charged with developing and acquiring products and technology, including new weapons systems, for use by the Air Force. The command includes a work force of about 90,000 military and civilian employees.