Anderson points to highlighted sections on the map, identifying neighborhoods that have been built since the study.
(WTOP/Andrew Mollenbeck)
GAITHERSBURG, Md. -- Years before the deadly plane crash that a fire chief called "a tragedy for the county," a neighborhood group around Montgomery County Airpark warned that approaching aircraft threatened homes below.
On Monday, a small jet crashed into three homes less than a mile from the runway.
The crash killed all three people on board and three more on the ground, as one of the homes exploded in fire.
"We have a couple pilots in our group, and all of us have said it's not a question of 'if,' it's a question of 'when,'" says Bob Anderson, co-founder of the Airpark Concerned Citizens Association.
"It's been no secret," he says. "It was going to happen."
The group, which has about 50 members, has regularly raised its concerns with the Montgomery County Council.
Chief among them: Too many flights are passing over congested areas at altitudes that are below regulation.
"You have planes under full throttle on crosswinds flying over communities," says Anderson, a former pilot himself. "One stall-out, and you're going into a house."
"We've tried to get them to declare these neighborhoods congested residential communities," he says.
Also, the community group claims pilots regularly fail to follow approved flight patterns.
Anderson raises doubts about the flight patterns themselves, which were established after noise and pattern studies done in 1990 and 1993.
But 30 percent of the East Village's homes had not been built in 1990s, the group estimates. As a result, aircraft takeoffs and landings take them over neighborhoods that were undeveloped when the flight paths were approved.
Some have said, "If you don't like it, move," according to Anderson.
The group has no intention of doing that, and after Monday's crash, leaders quickly called a meeting on Tuesday.
Story, comments and photos: http://www.wtop.com
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NTSB Identification: DCA15MA029
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Monday, December 08, 2014 in Gaithersburg, MD
Aircraft: EMBRAER EMB-500, registration: N100EQ
Injuries: 6 Fatal.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators traveled in support of this investigation and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
On December 8, 2014, about 1041 Eastern Standard Time (EST), an Embraer EMB-500 Phenom 100, N100EQ, impacted terrain and houses about 0.75 miles short of runway 14 while on approach to Montgomery County Airpark (GAI), Gaithersburg, Maryland. The airline transport rated pilot and two passengers were fatally injured as well as three persons on the ground. The airplane was destroyed during the impact and ensuing fire. Marginal visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and the flight was operating on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan. The airplane was registered to and operated by Sage Aviation LLC., of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. The flight originated from Horace Williams Airport (IGX), Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with GAI as its intended destination.
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