Sunday, September 11, 2022

Beechcraft 95-B55 Baron, N3670D: Fatal accident occurred September 10, 2022 in Hart County, Georgia

National Transportation Safety Board - Accident Number: ERA22FA405 

Federal Aviation Administration / Flight Standards District Office; Columbia, South Carolina 

Aircraft crashed under unknown circumstances into Lake Hartwell.


Date: 10-SEP-22
Time: 16:37:00Z
Regis#: N3670D
Aircraft Make: BEECH
Aircraft Model: 95
Event Type: ACCIDENT
Highest Injury: FATAL
Total Fatal: 1
Flight Crew: 1 Fatal
Pax: 0
Aircraft Missing: No
Damage: SUBSTANTIAL
Activity: PERSONAL
Flight Phase: APPROACH (APR)
Operation: 91
City: ANDERSON
State: SOUTH CAROLINA

Those who may have information that might be relevant to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation may contact them by email witness@ntsb.gov, and any friends and family who want to contact investigators about the accident should email assistance@ntsb.gov. You can also call the NTSB Response Operations Center at 844-373-9922 or 202-314-6290.

 Todd Jeffrey Carrell


 Todd Jeffrey Carrell


HART COUNTY, Georgia (WSPA) – Multiple crews recovered the body of a pilot who was killed when a plane crashed into Lake Hartwell.

We previously reported that the Beechcraft 95-B55 Baron departed Punta Gorda, Florida Saturday morning before it crashed into the lake around 12:30 p.m.

“It has been a long five days for us, going on six and I can’t imagine how long it has seemed for the family,” said Hart County Sheriff, Mike Cleveland. “Our main concern this morning is retrieving the body.”

Only one person, the pilot, was on board the aircraft when it crashed according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The Hart County Sheriff’s Office identified the pilot as 55-year-old Todd Jeffrey Carrell, of North Port, Florida.

As the hours passed Thursday, residents came and went, watching from a distance as the blue lights traveled across the water.

“I was hoping they could get the man out as soon as they could. Because you know how it is, you lose a loved one and you are not allowed to see him or whatever, I was just hoping it would go fast and things would go good,” said Steve Cheek, Hart County resident.

According to divers, the plane was entangled all week in tree limbs and debris more than 120 feet below the surface.

“We located the plane just in no time at all then the problem at all but then the problem became apparent that the depth out there, in that particular region, was over most local divers’ certification, if you will, on how deep they can dive,” said Sheriff Cleveland.

A new recovery plan was put to work Thursday using underwater lift bags to pull the plane closer to the surface. Deputies said it allowed divers to recover the pilot’s body.

The aircraft was lifted to the surface around 6 p.m. Thursday.

The recovery effort was something the Sheriff told 7NEWS he has never dealt with before.

“We have never to my knowledge, and I have been here all my life, had an aircraft to crash in the deep water,” said Sheriff Cleveland. “Our hearts go out to the family of course that it has taken this long.”

The NTSB said the cause of the crash is under investigation.

 
An unknown visitor attached a memorial bouquet Tuesday to the buoy that marks the spot of which a Beechcraft 95-B55 Baron entered Lake Hartwell on September 10.
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A Beechcraft 95-B55 Baron plane flown by a lone pilot crashed Saturday, Sept. 10 into Lake Hartwell near Long Point Recreation Area in Hartwell.

After impact at approximately 12:30 p.m., the plane ended up under about 120 feet of water, according to Hart County Sheriff Mike Cleveland, and the pilot was assumed dead.

The aircraft is registered to Todd Carrell from North Port, Florida. Agents confirmed that it took off from Punta Gorda, Florida at 9:40 a.m. Saturday with a flight plan to arrive in Anderson, South Carolina around 12:40 p.m. A time lapse on the flight tracking site FlightAware shows the pilot’s plane arriving near Anderson airport, then backtracking and circling a few times over the lake before the time lapse ends.

Cleveland said a “minimal amount” of oil leaked into the water from the plane, which was caught in an underwater tree and turned underside-up by Tuesday night.

On Tuesday evening, Hart County administrator Terrell Partain said contractors working in conjunction with the National Safety Transportation Board (NTSB) were expected to attempt to raise the plane out of the water in a recovery effort Thursday.

Cleveland said the plane needed to be carefully removed from the lake for safety reasons and as part of the crash investigation. Additionally, the body of the pilot could not be removed until the plane was recovered due to jammed doors and the plane’s depth.

“[The NTSB] is going to raise the plane and [the sheriff’s office] is going to get the body out. The body is [the sheriff’s office’s] only concern,” Cleveland said Tuesday. “[The NTSB] is going to have to raise the plane and carry it to Atlanta.”

The pilot’s flight insurance company had agreed to “pay out the policy” for the plane’s recovery process, Partain said Tuesday. He added that he did not have cost figures.

Results of the recovery process were unavailable by press time.

Cleveland said he “feels for the family.”

“They want their loved one out of that plan so they can have some closure. I understand that,” he said. “But we don’t have the capabilities to do it.”

A diving unit from Oconee County, South Carolina was assisting the Hart County Sheriff’s Office on Sunday.

Cleveland said Monday the objective to retrieve the pilot from his plane was at a “standstill.” Attempts by divers Sunday to get into the plane were unsuccessful. One diver, according to Cleveland, “got in a medical problem” Sunday. He said the diver is in stable condition.

“The National Transportation Safety Board is saying, ‘Other than getting the body out, do not disturb the plane.’ So we can’t get the body out until somebody lifts the plane up. It’s settled in the trees,” Cleveland said.

“The doors are jammed and we can’t get into the plane until it is lifted. We can’t lift the plane. We don’t have the capabilities so the NTSB is going to have to lift the plane for us to get the body.”

11 comments:

  1. Looks like erratic flying after a missed approach. Some very smooth flight paths suggest at least partial use of autopilot.

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  2. If he was trying to fly the approach, it looks like he was well above glide slope/glide path, called it off, then tried multiple times to get re-established in the viscinity of OYUNA. Was he talking to ATC? Seems like self vectoring from the flight track.

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    1. Track did seem quite odd. Looks like he was filed IFR. I was thinking medical issue or more likely possible an instrument failure. Will be a tough recovery … if I remember right no trees were removed more than 30’ below the surface when the lake was constructed. RIP

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    2. Yeah, looks like he was maybe doing the ILS 5, but never got below about 1000' AGL. Got really low and fast at one point over the lake after he went missed and looped back around. But even when he went missed, he didn't turn all the way back to ELW, per the procedure. Does anyone have the weather from that time? –FT

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    3. Yeah, looks like he was maybe doing the ILS 5, but never got below about 1000' AGL. Got really low and fast at one point over the lake after he went missed and looped back around. But even when he went missed, he didn't turn all the way back to ELW, per the procedure. Does anyone have the weather from that time? –FT

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  3. Coming in to KAND, he flew over the end of Long Point (Old 29). Went to KAND and aborted the landing, flew BACK to Long Point and over the end of Long Point 5 times. It looks like he was looking for something there or saw something there. Very odd.

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  4. appears first missed @ 16:10Z, last return @ 16:25Z. @ ADS-B
    Home based Punta Gorda, FL since mid 2020. active flight record last three months, first flight into KAND per flightaware data.

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  5. It looks to me like at the point of establishing on the ILS the second time, something happened. It might help if we could listen to the LiveATC recording. I flew a lot of night freight in Barons and once I had dual generator failure (they are belt driven) one belt failed first then the second due to the extra load. I had to land asap before the battery quit. Could also be medical or spatial disorientation upon disconnecting the autopilot. Single pilot IFR in a Baron is a high workload. R.I.P.

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  6. Plane has been raised using airbags and pilots body recovered . Crane will be used to move plane from water to land ,

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  7. As Sherlock Holmes was fond of saying, if you can figure anything else, then it's suicide.

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