GSP accident report released

By John Boyanoski  

NOVEMBER 24, 2009 4:21 a.m. (0)

The King Air B200 that crashed at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport two weeks ago did not have enough fuel in its tanks when it took off.

The National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report states the Beechcraft-made plane had roughly 30 gallons of fuel in each of its main tanks and no fuel in the auxiliary tanks.

Neal McGrail, chief operating officer of Stevens Aviation, said the plane was supposed to have 40 gallons in each tank, and could not say why employees allowed the plane to take off on Nov. 9 for a routine maintenance inspection without proper fuel requirements.

The NTSB report also states the plane’s pilot radioed GSP aviation officials saying he was low on fuel when he was trying to land, but never declared an emergency.

Investigator found less than a half gallon of fuel in the tanks after the crash and there was no evidence that any leaked, according to the report.

The plane belongs to Virginia-based MDTR Holdings, which was set-up by several men solely to own the plane, said William Newman, the Richmond, Va., attorney, who is registered as the agent.

The plane was flown from Virginia Beach to the Stevens’ facilities at GSP on Nov. 8 for routine maintenance. As part of that, two Stevens engineers, Ed Wilk and Derrick Holliday, accompanied pilot Mado McDonald on a “local traffic pattern” flight on Nov. 9 to diagnose any problems.

Stevens mechanics checked the fuel tanks before the plane took off at 9:50 a.m., the report states. An unnamed witness told investigators he saw the right engine propeller turning slow enough to see the individual blades when it was roughly 2.5 miles from the airport. At some point during the flight, GSP air traffic controllers radioed McDonald to tell him to slow down because he was about to overtake another small plane trying to land.

The plane reportedly clipped a guardrail while attempting to land, skipped over Highway 14, hit another guardrail and came to rest in a field a few hundred feet from GSP Runway No. 4 at 10:11 a.m.

All three men were transported to Greenville Memorial Hospital. Holliday and Wilk have been released. McDonald remains in the hospital in good condition.

McGrail said Holliday and Wilk have not returned to work.

A final report with probable cause for the crash won’t be released until late November.