Pilot seemed OK before deadly crash

By Mark Arner
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

January 26, 2006

CARLSBAD - A federal investigator said yesterday that nothing in the
pilot's last conversation with an air-traffic controller indicated
there was a problem before a fatal jet crash at McClellan-Palomar
Airport.

Kurt Anderson, an investigator for the National Transportation Safety
Board, also said there are conflicting reports about the jet's speed
when it approached the Carlsbad airport Tuesday morning.

Witnesses said the jet appeared to be traveling too fast as it touched
down near the middle of the 4,600-foot-long runway.

All four people aboard were killed when the aircraft skidded off the
runway, plowed through barricades and hit a storage building before
catching fire.

Anderson said he knew about the Internet data from "FlightAware" that
shows minute-by-minute ground speed data about such general aviation
flights.

The Web site said the 1994 Cessna Citation V twin-engine jet was
traveling at 227 nautical mph (261 mph) when it touched down at the
Carlsbad airport shortly before 6:40 a.m.

Anderson confirmed that the recommended landing speed for such a jet is
between 105 and 115 knots (121 mph to 132 mph).

"There is some discrepancy between that (the FlightAware data) and
other data that we have," he said.

All the information will take four to six months to fully analyze,
Anderson said.

He declined to speculate about what caused the crash.

"This is a slow and very deliberative, step-by-step process," he said.
"At this point, we are nowhere near any specific conclusions."

Investigators did determine that the jet's landing gear was down after
the crash, and that its "thrust reversers," used to slow the jet, were
stowed.

That would be the normal position for such equipment if the pilot
intended to take off again and attempt another landing, Anderson said.

He said the cockpit voice recorder was recovered "in good shape" and
was being flown to Washington, D.C., along with reams of other data.

Anderson said he also has a recording of the pilot's conversation with
an off-site air traffic controller just before the landing attempt.

That conversation was with a controller based at an FAA radar station,
called a TRACON, next to the Miramar Marine Corps Air Station.

Anderson said there was no distress call or indication from the pilot
that he was having difficulty with the aircraft.

Killed in the wreck were pilot John C. "Jack" Francis, co-pilot Anthony
Garrett, New Hampshire science-equipment executive Frank Jellinek Jr.
and Janet Shafran of Ketchum, Idaho, authorities said.

Mark Arner: (619) 542-4556;