NTSB: Plane hit antenna off runway before crash on Owatonna

OWATONNA — In the searing heat of Saturday afternoon, federal investigators were still picking through the corn searching for clues to what caused a business jet to crash Thursday morning in Owatonna. But this phase of the investigation is winding down, said Terry Williams, the public information officer with the National Transportation Safety Board.

Since the crash, federal officials have combed through the wreckage looking for evidence to recreate the crash that killed all eight aboard and left their Raytheon Hawker 800 plane in pieces.

NTSB Board Member Steve Chealander said the mystery revolves around the moment when the pilot decided to abort the landing, though the wheels were already on the ground. Chealandner said the Instrument Landing System, which guides air craft in for a landing, was functioning correctly as the flight approached Degner and rolled in for a landing.

For some unknown reason, the pilots attempted a last minute takeoff.

“The plane did land and for some reason the flight crew made the decision to take off again,” Chealander said.

Chealander said he did not yet know where precisely the plane was located on the runway when it attempted a takeoff.

It appears that the plane never got airborne, Chealander said. On its path into the cornfield it took out the localizer antenna at the end of the runway.

“That’s when the accident sequence started,” Chealander said.

The cockpit voice recorder has already been sent to Washington D.C. where it will be reviewed by a panel of experts, representatives from the airplane’s company and the manufacturer.

Officials also recovered the flight management computer and the ground proximity warning system, which gives the pilots their

position in relation to the ground, details the terrain below and sends the cock pit crew warnings and alerts. Chealander and NTSB officials are hoping that the two will open up new trails of information.

“We’re hopeful that [these devices] will have a few seconds of memory to determine what happened,” Chealander said.

Chealander had a slightly more refined idea of what the weather was like based on new data. He said in the hour prior to the crash there had been “convective activity” in southern Minnesota with winds up to 55 miles per hour. At the time the runway was wet and there was a light drizzle. The NTSB is still going through records from the National Weather Service to see whether the dispersing storm system was a factor in the crash.

In addition to the mechanics of the aircraft, the NTSB will also be investigating the pilots themselves. They have already interviewed witnesses in Pennsylvania and Atlantic City, NJ where the flight originated.

“We’re going to look at how much sleep they had and every aspect of their last 48 hours,” Chealander said.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is making a detailed map of all the debris and wreckage, marking each piece with yellow crime tape. After they conclude, Chealander said the wreckage will be removed.

Steele County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Milo Dahlin said that their duties were mostly confined to security detail.

Clare Kennedy can be reached at 444-2376.

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