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Accident occurred Sunday, October 24, 2004 in Stuart, VA
Probable Cause Approval Date: 02/07/2006
Aircraft: Beech 200, registration: N501RH
Injuries: 10 Fatal.
NTSB investigators traveled in support of this investigation and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
The Board's full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/publictn.htm
On October 24, 2004, about 1235 eastern daylight time (all times in this brief are eastern daylight time based on a 24-hour clock), a Beech King Air 200, N501RH, operated by Hendrick Motorsports, Inc., crashed into mountainous terrain in Stuart, Virginia, during a missed approach to Martinsville/Blue Ridge Airport (MTV), Martinsville, Virginia. The flight was transporting Hendrick Motorsports employees and others to an automobile race in Martinsville, Virginia. The two flight crewmembers and eight passengers were killed, and the airplane was destroyed by impact forces and postcrash fire. The flight was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan. Instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) prevailed at the time of the accident.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be:
The flight crew's failure to properly execute the published instrument approach procedure, including the published missed approach procedure, which resulted in controlled flight into terrain. Contributing to the cause of the accident was the flight crew's failure to use all available navigational aids to confirm and monitor the airplane's position during the approach.
The Board's full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/publictn.htm
On October 24, 2004, about 1235 eastern daylight time (all times in this brief are eastern daylight time based on a 24-hour clock), a Beech King Air 200, N501RH, operated by Hendrick Motorsports, Inc., crashed into mountainous terrain in Stuart, Virginia, during a missed approach to Martinsville/Blue Ridge Airport (MTV), Martinsville, Virginia. The flight was transporting Hendrick Motorsports employees and others to an automobile race in Martinsville, Virginia. The two flight crewmembers and eight passengers were killed, and the airplane was destroyed by impact forces and postcrash fire. The flight was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan. Instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) prevailed at the time of the accident.
The flight departed from Concord Regional Airport (JQF), Concord, North Carolina, about 1156. An examination of radar data and voice communications from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) revealed that, during the en route portion of the flight, a radar target identified as the accident airplane maintained all assigned altitudes and headings.
As the airplane approached MTV, an air traffic controller advised the flight crew that the airplane was second in line for the localizer runway 30 approach. The controller instructed the pilots to hold "as published" on the localizer course at 4,000 feet mean sea level (msl) (all altitudes and elevations in this brief are expressed as msl unless otherwise noted) and to expect a 28-minute delay in the holding pattern. The flight crew requested 5-mile legs in the holding pattern, and the controller approved 5- or 10-mile legs at the crew's discretion.
The localizer runway 30 approach procedure included an inbound course with a magnetic heading of 305 degrees. The minimum descent altitude for the intermediate section of the approach and the holding pattern southeast of the BALES locator outer marker (LOM) was 2,600 feet. The BALES LOM is located at 6 distance measuring equipment (DME) (1 DME equals 1 nautical mile) on the approach course. After crossing the BALES LOM on the inbound course, the minimum descent altitude on the final segment of the approach, for an airplane equipped with DME, was 1,340 feet. The missed approach point (MAP) was at 1 DME and near the approach end of the runway. The distance from the BALES LOM to the MAP was 5 nautical miles (nm). The published missed approach procedure instructed the pilot to make a "climbing right turn to 2,600 feet and proceed direct to BALES LOM and hold."
The accident airplane approached the BALES LOM from the south, crossed BALES at 4,000 feet, and turned right toward the outbound leg of the holding pattern. About that time, the flight crewmembers of the airplane that preceded the accident airplane on the approach announced that that they were canceling their IFR clearance after breaking out of the clouds during the approach and then proceeded to land at MTV.
At 1224:19, while the accident airplane was still turning right to the outbound leg of the holding pattern, the controller asked the flight crew if the airplane was established in the holding pattern, and the crew confirmed, "we're established." At 1224:26, the controller cleared the airplane for the localizer runway 30 approach and requested that the flight crew advise him when the airplane was inbound on the approach. The airplane then completed a continuous right turn toward the inbound course and crossed the BALES LOM at an altitude of 3,900 feet.
At 1226:53, the flight crew advised the controller that the airplane was "established inbound" on the approach. At 1227:04, the controller cleared the airplane for the approach and approved a radio frequency change from the approach control frequency to the common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF). (According to FAA Order 7110.65, "Air Traffic Control," paragraph 5-1-13, after a controller issues a frequency change to the CTAF, radar services are automatically terminated.) At 4 DME, or 2 nm after crossing the BALES LOM on the inbound course, the airplane started to descend from 4,000 feet. The airplane leveled off at 2,600 feet as it passed the MAP. About 1 nm past the MAP and over the runway, the airplane began a descent to 1,400 feet and continued on an approximate heading of 305 degrees.
The airplane leveled at 1,400 feet, about 4 nm beyond MTV and 5 nm beyond the MAP. The airplane maintained level flight between 1,400 and 1,500 feet for the next 1 minute 13 seconds. At 1232:13, about 8 nm beyond MTV, the airplane initiated a straight-ahead climb.
At 1233:08, the flight crew informed the controller, "we're going missed at this time." The controller asked the flight crew to repeat the radio transmission. The flight crew repeated the information, and the controller acknowledged the radio transmission. The controller received no further radio transmissions from the flight crew.
At 1233:21, the controller advised the flight crew to climb and maintain 4,400 feet. At 1233:24, the radar target was lost. The accident occurred on Bull Mountain in Stuart, Virginia, at an elevation of about 2,400 feet and near the extended centerline of the runway.
Witnesses at MTV said that they heard the airplane pass overhead but did not see it because of the cloud cover. They stated that the engine sound was smooth and continuous with no interruption. One witness said that the engines sounded as though they were at idle. Two witnesses stated that they heard no increase in engine sound at the time they perceived the airplane to be at a position that coincided with the MAP.
Two witnesses who were about 3 to 4 miles southeast of Bull Mountain saw an airplane fly past them at a low altitude. One of the witnesses said that the airplane was flying "flat and level" about 60 to 70 feet above ground level and was heading northwest. This witness also stated that, other than flying "very low," the airplane did not appear to be in distress, and the landing gear appeared to be up. The witness further stated that the speed of the airplane "wasn't extremely fast." In addition, the witness noted that the fog level was low but could not tell how much lower the airplane was from the fog.
A trooper with the Virginia State Police stated that, at the time of the accident and throughout the search and recovery efforts (which spanned throughout the day and evening), Bull Mountain was completely obscured by clouds and fog. The trooper stated that the visibility was between 0 and 0.25 mile.
January 19, 2014
Standing with a photo of her late husband and twin daughters Cathy Hendrick, talks with members of the Chapel by the Sea Baptist Church in Little River about how her faith helped her get through the tragedy of losing them in a 2004 plane crash.
NORTH MYRTLE BEACH — Cathy Hendrick reflected after a morning of sharing with a full church in Cherry Grove the tragic story of the day her husband – then the president of Hendrick Motorsports – and their twin 22-year-old daughters died in a plane crash.
“It was a very warm reception,” she said of the congregants at Chapel By The Sea Baptist Church in North Myrtle Beach’s Cherry Grove Beach community Sunday morning. “I heard a lot of sniffles [while speaking]. You can tell when it gets working on people’s hearts.”
Hendrick shared her story, speaking about “Faith In The Midst Of Tragedy” taking those in the room through the day her husband and daughters died almost 10 years ago.
Kissing her daughters and husband goodbye Oct. 24, 2004, as they went to board a plane and fly 35 minutes from Concord, N.C., to Martinsville Speedway in Virginia.
“My God could not have given me a more precious memory,” she said. “That memory has helped to heal my heart.”
She recalled going to church that morning. Returning home to find her oldest daughter frantic because the plane disappeared on its way to Virginia. The fog on the mountain that made it difficult for search and rescue to find where the plane crashed. And then the difficult words she heard from her brother-in-law, Rick Hendrick.
“There are no survivors,” she remembered Rick Hendrick telling her.
The Hendrick team, fielding four Chevrolet drivers in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series drivers – Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne, was founded in 1984 by Rick Hendrick, whose 24-year-old son, Ricky Hendrick, also perished in the plane crash.
For Ray and Rebecca Jones, visiting North Myrtle Beach from Madison, Wis., Cathy Hendrick’s words hit close to home. They first visited Chapel By The Sea two weeks prior and made sure to return once they saw who would be speaking.
“We had a plane tragedy in the family,” Rebecca Jones said, saying her family had experienced similar feelings as the ones Cathy Hendrick described. “It’s always encouraging to hear how God can bring his light in through a tragedy.”
Ray Jones said he agreed.
“It was a very powerful service,” he said.
Hendrick said she began her healing process by going on mission trips overseas and in the United States. After about four years had passed, she said God called her to share her story.
“For years I couldn’t get through without crying,” she said. “But everybody has gone through something. … We all deal with things that are hard.”
Hendrick said there were times when she questioned why things happened the way they did, but urged those at Chapel By The Sea to trust God and be ready for God’s plan.
“Scripture tells us his ways are not our ways,” she said. “Our days on earth were numbered by God himself even before we were born.”
Hendrick said she’s found solace in knowing that her husband and daughters are in heaven because they knew God. She said four days before her husband died he taught a Bible study lesson titled “Are you ready?”
Her husband was, she said, and she hopes her story helps prepare others.
Story and Photo: http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com
The larger airport at Danville VA was further
ReplyDeleteaway, but not by a whole lot.
John Hendrix-President of the Hendrix Automotive Group nixed the idea of flying into the Danville Airport because he did not want "to be late for the race". But they ended up never making the race date but......an early funeral date.
DeleteAnother Get-there-Itis-case. They were flying in IMC conditions the whole time and had a GPS equipment but the database was expired and that made that equipment uncertified for IFR flight.
I understand what The NTSB conclusions were but there were a lot of miscues that contributed to this fatal airplane crash. The PIC should have put his foot down and said NO!
That's always easy to "Monday morning quarterback", and in many cases, yes, the PIC should decline, or insist on an alternative. But was there actually a conflict here? The NTSB report made no reference to any disagreement.
DeleteFlight was in IMC, yes, but the plane ahead of them that landed at MTV made it down w/o incident, actually stating that the conditions weren't as bad as reported, as he broke out 150' above the reported ceiling. And the entire Hendricks aviation dept. (18 pilots at the time!) confirmed that they always used the GPS as a backup to verify position, and not as primary for actual approaches.
It appears that the flight crew simply mixed up where they were DME in relation to the MAP and FAF. These 2 points are 5 DME (nm) apart, and they seemed to start everything 5nm too late, including initial and final descent, as well as going missed. Additionally, if they had made a climbing RIGHT turn as published, instead of straight ahead climb as they did, they would have safely cleared the surrounding terrain, despite being 5nm further NW than they should have been.
That last part is surprising to me. The captain had 10000hrs and the FO had 2000. I'm sure there must've been some confusion (but unfortunately no CVR or FDR, so we'll never know), but when they radioed they were going missed and started climbing, why in the world did they not make that climbing right turn? Did they drop or damage their copy of the approach plate or something? That also should've been briefed well ahead of time, but only a 30-min flight, so maybe it got skipped?
In any case, so tragic and preventable.