14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Monday, May 18, 2015 in Saltville, VA
Aircraft: BEECH 95 B55 (T42A), registration: N5816S
Injuries: 2 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 either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
On May 18, 2015, at 1238 eastern daylight time, a Beech 95-B55 (T42A), N5816S, was destroyed during collision with terrain near Saltville, Virginia. The commercial pilot and passenger were fatally injured. The airplane departed Spruce Creek Airport (7FL6), Daytona Beach, Florida, about 0920, and was destined for Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport (MFD), Mansfield, Ohio. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed, and an instrument flight rules flight plan was filed for the personal flight, which was conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91.
Preliminary radar and air traffic control information from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) revealed that at 1214:05, the airplane was in cruise flight at an altitude about 9,000 feet when the pilot contacted Tri-Cities Approach Control. The air traffic controller acknowledged the pilot and issued the altimeter setting. At 1220:02, the controller asked the pilot his on-course heading; the pilot responded 356 degrees. The controller advised the pilot of scattered areas of unspecified weather of unknown intensity about 40 miles directly ahead of the airplane. The pilot stated he would like to deviate east if possible. The TRI air traffic controller approved deviations left and right as necessary, and instructed the pilot to maintain 9,000 feet. At 1232:16, the air traffic controller switched the pilot to the Indianapolis Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZID) and the pilot acknowledged the communications transfer. There were no further communications between the accident airplane and air traffic control.
Radar data depicted an easterly deviation off course, along with a gradual descent, before radar contact was lost.
A search was initiated, and the airplane wreckage was discovered in heavily wooded, mountainous terrain on May 19, 2015.
At 1235, the weather recorded at Tazewell County Airport, 8 miles north of the site, included scattered layers at 2,900 feet, 3,600 feet, and a broken ceiling at 8,000 feet with 10 miles visibility. The wind was from 210 degrees at 5 knots. The temperature was 24 degrees C, and the dewpoint was 18 degrees C. The altimeter setting was 30.26 inches of mercury. A Center Weather Advisory issued at 1204, valid west of the airplane's flight track, forecasted areas of heavy to extreme precipitation in isolated thunderstorms.
The pilot held a commercial pilot certificate with ratings for airplane single engine land, multiengine land, and instrument airplane. His most recent FAA second-class medical certificate was issued July 2, 2013. A review of the pilot's logbook revealed he had accumulated 2,852.3 total hours of flight experience, 167 hours of which were in the accident airplane make and model.
According to FAA records, the airplane was manufactured in 1965, and was equipped with two Continental Motors Inc IO-470, 260 hp reciprocating engines. The airplane's maintenance records were not recovered; however, a maintenance invoice revealed that its most recent annual inspection was completed August 15, 2014, at 4094.9 total aircraft hours.
The wreckage was examined at the accident site and all major components were accounted for at the scene. The initial impact points were an approximate 50-foot-tall tree and a deep ground scar collocated near the peak of a mountain, at an elevation of about 4,400 feet. . The airplane fragmented outside the crater, and was contained in an arc that reached about 50 feet beyond the crater on an approximate 192 degree magnetic heading, and widened to about 60 feet at its widest point.
Control continuity could not be established due to extensive impact damage, however; parts associated with both wings, left and right wing flaps, and left and right ailerons were identified. Sheet metal and cabling associated with the horizontal and vertical stablizers, as well as the elevators, were also identified.
The propellers were separated from their respective engines, and all propeller blades exhibited similar twisting, bending, leading edge gouging, and chordwise scratching. One tree trunk displayed deep, angular cuts with paint transfers consistent with propeller contact.
The wreckage and some personal electronic devices were recovered for examination at a later date.
LWF INC: http://registry.faa.gov/N5816S
The investigation of the plane crash that killed two people on Monday in a remote area near Saltville may take some time as the debris field is described as substantial and only being cleared during daylight hours.
According to Corinne Geller, public relations director with the Virginia State Police, the crash scene has been turned over to the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board, which began removing the wreckage on Thursday.
“They were going to have to remove by helicopter due to the terrain,” said Geller. “Cause remains under investigation.”
Geller said investigators are still waiting on positive identification of the victims whose bodies were taken to the Office of the Medical Examiner in Roanoke, but an Ohio newspaper identified the people on board the Beech BE55 as George and Pamela Ihrig Fonseca of Mansfield, Ohio. The couple was reported to have been flying from their winter home near Daytona Beach, Fla., back to Ohio.
The plane left Florida Monday morning and was reported missing at 2:20 p.m. The wreckage was discovered early Tuesday afternoon where the plane had crashed into Flat Top Mountain east of Saltville.
The Saltville Rescue Squad building served as a staging area for searchers and local people assisted in locating the crash scene once it was spotted from the air. On board the Virginia State Police helicopter conducting the spotting was a member of the Black Diamond Search and Rescue Council and a Virginia State Police lieutenant, stated a news release from the Virginia State Police.
The terrain is difficult, rocky with dense foliage, so recovery of the wreckage is taking place only during daylight hours, reported a spokesman with the NTSB.
The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF) Conservation Police assisted with the ground search using ATVs.
Weather conditions at the time of the crash are being studied as part of the investigation, stated Lt. Ed Murphy with the Virginia State Police as the pilot of the aircraft may have been trying to avoid isolated storms in the flight path. A preliminary report may be released in the next couple of weeks.
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| George and Pam Ihrig Fonseca |
George Fonseca and his wife, Pam Ihrig Fonseca, were on their way back home to Mansfield, Ohio, aboard their Beech BE-55 plane early Monday, said niece Kayla Ihrig of Pennsylvania. The Fonsecas encountered bad weather over the rugged and remote mountains of southwest Virginia, just east of Saltville, according to the Virginia State Patrol.
The plane crashed into the side of a mountain called Flat Top, which is quite steep, Virginia State Police Lt. Ed Murphy said. A search helicopter spotted the wreckage about 12:35 p.m. the next day.
“They were aviation enthusiasts,” Ihrig said in a telephone interview Wednesday. “They took flying very seriously. It was a huge shock to everyone.”
The couple had left the Spruce Creek Fly-In near Port Orange — where they have a home with a hangar on Lazy Eight Drive that backs up to a taxiway — just before 9 a.m. Monday and were expected back in Mansfield about five hours later, according to the flight plan they had filed with the Federal Aviation Administration. They were supposed to land at the Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport, FAA officials said.
The FAA had put out a statement saying that the pilot lost contact with air traffic controllers at Tri-Cities Airport in Tennessee at 12:40 p.m. Monday. The aircraft was flying about 7 miles northeast of Tazewell County Airport, Richland, Virginia, when contact was lost.
“The crash site is located on the western side of Flat Top Mountain towards the top elevation,” Corinne Geller, a spokeswoman with the Virginia State Patrol, wrote in an email. She described the debris field of wreckage as “extensive.”
Ihrig said her aunt Pam also had her pilot’s license, but she’s not certain whether Pam or George Fonseca was flying the plane Monday. She said the couple had four planes and enjoyed restoring Word War II-era aircraft. They flew back and forth between their residences in Mansfield and the Fly-In.
Ihrig also said the Fonsecas “traveled more than anyone else I ever met.” The couple owned a staffing company in Mansfield and when the couple failed to show up at their office, people became concerned and someone called Fonseca’s son, Ihrig said.
“Once we heard they were missing, family members drove (to the site) from Missouri and Pennsylvania,” Ihrig said.
Geller of the Virginia State Patrol said officials with the National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA were at the scene investigating on Wednesday.
Source: http://www.news-journalonline.com
George Fonseca
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