Related: What Happened at Hanscom?
I don't know, and the more important question is why. Who benefited?
"Pilots may have skipped checklist before Hanscom crash; Recorder shows no safety test" by Laura Crimaldi | Globe staff June 13, 2014
The pilots aboard a corporate jet that crashed last month at Hanscom Field, killing all seven people on board, may have failed to conduct a preflight check and possibly attempted to take off with the plane’s lift controls in a locked position, federal investigators have found.
This reeks of a cover up. We are talking Lew Katz here, other important people, fine corporate piece of equipment, and the odd timing of the preliminary report. That and the fact that over time we have learned that the agenda-pushing press never tell us the true story of airplane crashes.
Btw, been a long, long time since Malaysia Flight 370 has been mentioned.
The National Transportation Safety Board disclosed the new details Friday in a report on its preliminary findings in the May 31 crash that killed Philadelphia Inquirer co-owner and philanthropist Lewis Katz, three guests, and the three-member crew.
We call it Slow Saturday for a reason.
Katz had flown to Massachusetts to attend a fund-raiser at the Concord home of historian and author Doris Kearns Goodwin and her husband, former presidential adviser Richard Goodwin.
Pilots are supposed to check aircraft flight controls before takeoff by moving the control column from right to left and forward and back-ward and by moving the rudder pedals from side to side, said John Goglia, a former member of the NTSB and an independent safety consultant from Saugus. The check is part of a myriad of details that need to be verified before flying, he said.
I'm sorry, I'm just finding it hard to believe professional pilots would miss something like that when it would also mean the deaths of themselves. Something went wrong here, and it wasn't a sloppy checklist by the pilots.
Information from the flight data recorder, however, “did not reveal any movement consistent with a flight control check prior to the commencement of the takeoff roll,” the NTSB report said.
Keep that in mind for later. We have black boxes.
Goglia, after reviewing the report, said the findings suggest the pilots may have skipped a step in the preflight check. “If he had done that, he would have discovered that he had a flight control problem,” Goglia said in an interview.
The Gulfstream IV jet reached a speed of nearly 190 miles per hour on the runway, but never became airborne, according to the report. Rather, the jet left the runway, rolled onto the grass, struck an antenna, and burst through a chain-link fence before sliding into a gully, where it erupted into flames.
And it didn't disintegrate into nothing?
The federal report also raised a question about whether a locking system, which is intended to protect flight controls from damage when a plane is on the ground, was engaged when the pilots attempted to take off....
The rest of the evidence and theories cited contradicts what was found, so there is really no sense wasting your time.
--more--"
And once again we have the airline industry going along to get along. FAA must be that powerful.
"After Hanscom crash, Gulfstream stresses checklists; Urgency follows accident that killed seven" by Travis Andersen | Globe staff June 17, 2014
The company that made the private jet plane that crashed last month at Hanscom Field in Bedford, killing all seven people on board, is urging flight crews to perform certain maintenance checks before takeoff that federal officials have tied to the fatal accident.
In a letter dated Friday, the Gulfstream company urged crews to “ensure the gust lock is off prior to staring engines (not applicable for G650).”
The company also urged crews to “check flight controls for freedom and correct movement prior to taxi/takeoff” and to “confirm the elevators are free during the takeoff roll.”
Peter Knudson — a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash — confirmed in a phone interview that the gust lock is “germane” to the review of the crash. He did not elaborate.
The gust lock function holds flight controls in place when an aircraft is parked, so the controls are not affected by high winds or other movements, aviation experts said. But if gust locks are on during takeoff, there can be problems.
“That’s always been on the checklist” of things to review before takeoff, said Gene Allen, a longtime Gulfstream pilot.
And this crash is the only one EVER related to such a thing, and only the second crash in the history of the product line. Something stinking here, folks.
According to a preliminary report released by the NTSB, the pilots aboard the corporate jet that crashed on May 31 at Hanscom Field may have failed to conduct a preflight check and possibly attempted to take off with the plane’s lift controls in a locked position.
May have?
The Gulfstream IV jet reached a speed of nearly 190 miles per hour on the runway, but never became airborne, according to the report. Instead, the jet left the runway, rolled onto the grass, struck an antenna, and burst through a chain-link fence before sliding into a gully, where it erupted into flames, the report stated.
The federal report also raised a question about whether the gust lock was engaged when the pilots attempted to take off. The device keeps the ailerons and rudders in a neutral position and the elevators in a down position to prevent wind gusts from damaging the aircraft when it is stationary, the NTSB report said.
Investigators found the position of the elevators at the back of the plane was consistent with the gust lock being on, according to information from the flight data recorder. But authorities discovered that the lock was off when they went through the jet’s wreckage, the report said.
Then either the flight data recorder information has been forged and is phony or the federal report is a lie!
I rest my case, folks.
A Gulfstream spokeswoman did not return a call seeking comment on Monday.
Elevators, located on the rear wings of the plane, are crucial to lifting the plane’s nose to take flight. If the elevators were in the down position, the plane would not take off.
The crash victims included Philadelphia Inquirer co-owner and philanthropist Lewis Katz; pilot James McDowell, 61, of Georgetown, Del.; copilot Bauke “Michael” De Vries, 45, of Marlton, N.J.; Anne Leeds, a retired preschool teacher from Longport, N.J.; Marcella Dalsey, executive director of the Drew A. Katz Foundation; and Susan K. Asbell, who served with Dalsey on the strategic planning committee of the Boys & Girls Club of Camden County, N.J.
Also see: Boys and Girls Clubs offer lesson in healthy eating — with haute cuisine
Related: Girls Grow Up Quick in Woburn
I'm not going to lecture you about it.
Bruce Landsberg, president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Foundation in Frederick, Md., said Monday that he had to reserve judgment until the final report on the crash comes out. The NTSB could take up to a year to release its final report.
So this was a trial balloon for the cover story to get it implanted in your mind so when they present the official findings you will say, "Yeah, I heard about that."
“These [theories] are all speculation, until we know more than we do now,” said Landsberg.
Oh, you conspiracy theorists, harumph, harumph!
Last week, he discussed the problems an engaged gust lock could cause.
“The pilots should have disengaged the gust lock right when they started the engine; it’s not clear whether they did or not,” Landsberg told the Globe last week. “It would be bad to try to take off with that engaged, because the flight controls would be immovable.”
--more--"
It's not only who killed Lew Katz and why, but why is the government helping to cover it up?
Also see: Air traffic controllers still work compressed ‘rattler’ schedules
Yeah, blame the air traffic controllers -- not that they are innocent of blame in all cases.
Another rich person who met an unexpected demise:
"Victim of N.Y. plane crash was from Rockefeller family" Associated Press June 14, 2014
NEW YORK — A small plane crashed outside New York City on Friday, killing a great-grandson of Standard Oil cofounder John D. Rockefeller, a family spokesman said.
The single-engine plane took off from Westchester County Airport just after 8 a.m. Friday and narrowly missed a house before hitting some trees, officials said.
Richard Rockefeller, of Falmouth, Maine, was the only person on board the Portland, Maine-registered aircraft.
The 65-year-old was a doctor and father of two, family spokesman Fraser Seitel said. He had recently been working on a way to treat posttraumatic stress disorder in veterans, Seitel said.
‘‘It’s a terrible tragedy,’’ Seitel said. ‘‘Richard was a wonderful cherished son, brother, father, and grandfather.’’
Maybe.
Rockefeller was a nephew of former vice president Nelson A. Rockefeller, who also was governor of New York from 1959 to 1973. On Thursday, Richard Rockefeller ate dinner with his father, banker and philanthropist David Rockefeller, in Westchester to celebrate the family patriarch’s 99th birthday, Seitel said.
How is it scum like him seem to last forever? Organ transplants?
The plane, a Piper Meridian, crashed in the hamlet of Purchase. At the time of the crash, the weather was foggy and visibility was about a quarter-mile, officials said.
Yeah, okay, whatever you say.
--more--"
Who would have wanted him dead?
I mean, accidents do happen but....
