It probably was the most unusual midair collision ever around Washington: Two veteran pilots, both working for the nation’s top aviation safety agencies, smashed their planes together 1,600 feet above Warrenton, Va., on a sunny Memorial Day afternoon two years ago.
Now, an exhaustive investigation has come to a startlingly simple conclusion: Somehow, they just didn’t see each other.
One of the planes, a Beechcraft 35, was chopped in two by the propeller of a Piper PA-28. With its tail cut off, the Beechcraft and the two certified pilots on board — James “Mike” Duncan, 60, and Paul Gardella Jr., 57 — spiraled down to their deaths.
The pilot of the Piper, Thomas R. Proven, 70, managed to bring his damaged plane down in a pasture, skidding through a narrow tree-lined path and clipping off the plane’s right wing.
Proven was an investigator for the Federal Aviation Administration. Duncan was chief medical officer for the National Transportation Safety Board, the federal agency charged with investigating airplane crashes. Gardella was a professional flight instructor and the region’s chief examining officer for the Civil Air Patrol.
Combined, the three pilots had 16,600 hours of experience at the controls of an airplane.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) was called in to handle the investigation, and the report it produced for the small-plane crash has a depth of detail normally found when a commercial airliner goes down.
The collision occurred in airspace that local pilots call the training ground, a swath generally free from airliner traffic where instructors bring fledgling pilots to practice, planes are taken to do testing and more experienced pilots go to log flying time that their certification requires.
The latter was what had Gardella and Duncan in the air that afternoon. They took off in the Beechcraft from Warrenton-Fauquier Airport for a flight review required of pilots every two years.
The TSB report says that 15 minutes after they were airborne, Proven radioed an air travel controller for clearance to land on runway 33 at the same airport. The controller responded and then turned to dealing with arrivals and departures of jetliners at nearby Dulles International Airport.
Both the Beechcraft and Piper were operating under what are known as visual flight rules: They were expected to be scanning the air for other planes.
Were they distracted by their cockpit gauges during the 37 seconds they were on a collision course? The TSB draws no conclusion.
At 4:04 p.m., the TSB said, the controller received an audio and visual warning on the computer screen of a possible collision between the two planes. The Beechcraft was 500 feet below and less than a mile away from the Piper. The controller assessed the situation and “assessed that there was no conflict” before returning to the airliners.
The two smaller planes merged at a 45-degree angle, and “the Piper’s propeller severed the Beechcraft’s fuselage just aft of the pilots’s seats.”
The TSB investigators said that “field-of-view analysis showed that there was a high likelihood that each aircraft was visible to the other, meaning that no aircraft structure would have obscured the view of either approaching aircraft.”
The report said that on board the Beechcraft, Gardella’s head might have obscured Duncan’s view, but Gardella’s view should have been unobstructed.
“There were no indications that either aircraft manoeuvered to avoid the other,” the report said.
- Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com
Investigation Report: http://www.tsb.gc.ca
Accident occurred Monday, May 28, 2012 in Sumerduck, VA
Aircraft: BEECH V35B, registration: N6658R
Injuries: 2 Fatal,1 Serious.
Accident occurred Monday, May 28, 2012 in Sumerduck, VA
Aircraft: PIPER PA-28-140, registration: N23SC
Injuries: 2 Fatal,1 Serious.
Aircraft: PIPER PA-28-140, registration: N23SC
Injuries: 2 Fatal,1 Serious.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. The foreign authority was the source of this information.
On May 28, 2012, about 1604 eastern daylight time, a Beech V35B, N6658R, and a Piper PA-28-140, N23SC, collided in flight in the vicinity of Sumerduck, Virginia. The Beech was destroyed, and the pilot and flight instructor were fatally injured; the Piper was substantially damaged, and the pilot was seriously injured. Neither of the local flights was operating on a flight plan, and both were being conducted under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. Day visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The Beech departed Warrenton-Fauquier Airport, Warrenton, Virginia, on a flight review for the private pilot, and the Piper departed Culpeper Regional Airport, Culpeper, Virginia, on a personal flight.
The pilot/owner of the Beech was an employee of the NTSB, and the pilot/owner of the Piper was an employee of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Under the provisions of Annex 13 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation and by mutual agreement, the United States delegated the accident investigation to the government of Canada. The NTSB designated an accredited representative to the investigation on behalf of the United States, and the FAA designated an advisor to the accredited representative.
The investigation is being conducted by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada under its statutes. Further information may be obtained from:
Transportation Safety Board of Canada
Place du Centre
200 Promenade du Portage, 4th Floor
Gatineau, Quebec
K1A 1K8
Tel: 1 (800) 387-3557
Fax: 1 (819) 997-2239
Email: airops@tsb.gc.ca
Web: http://www.tsb.gc.ca
Occurrence Number: A12H0001
This report is for informational purposes only, and only contains information released by or provided to the government of Canada.
Investigation Report: http://www.tsb.gc.ca
Two Transportation Safety Board of Canada investigators examining the wreckage from the Beechcraft BE-35.
Plane crash site in Fauquier County.
Piper PA-28-140, N23SC
Transportation Safety Board of Canada Inspector in Charge John Lee conducts a press conference on May 30th, 2012 at the Hampton Inn in Warrenton.
FAA IDENTIFICATION Regis#: 6658R Make/Model: BE35 Description: 35 Bonanza Date: 05/28/2012 Time: 1600 Event Type: Accident Highest Injury: Fatal Mid Air: N Missing: N Damage: Destroyed LOCATION City: WARRENTON State: VA Country: US DESCRIPTION AIRCRAFT COLLIDED WITH ANOTHER AIRCRAFT IN FLIGHT. WARRENTON, VA INJURY DATA Total Fatal: 2 # Crew: 0 Fat: 2 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk: # Pass: 0 Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk: # Grnd: Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk: OTHER DATA Activity: Unknown Phase: Unknown Operation: OTHER FAA FSDO: WASHINGTON IAD, DC (EA27) Entry date: 05/29/2012
FAA IDENTIFICATION Regis#: 23SC Make/Model: PA28 Description: PA-28 CHEROKEE Date: 05/28/2012 Time: 1600 Event Type: Accident Highest Injury: Minor Mid Air: Y Missing: N Damage: Substantial LOCATION City: WARRENTON State: VA Country: US DESCRIPTION AIRCRAFT COLLIDED WITH ANOTHER AIRCRAFT WHILE IN FLIGHT. WARRENTON, VA INJURY DATA Total Fatal: 0 # Crew: 0 Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 1 Unk: # Pass: 0 Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk: # Grnd: Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk: OTHER DATA Activity: Pleasure Phase: Approach Operation: OTHER FAA FSDO: WASHINGTON IAD, DC (EA27) Entry date: 05/29/2012