This is a developing story.
New details were released May 15 in the Akron plane crash that killed two aboard.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators arrived Friday at the crash scene, a Canterbury Circle home where a father and two children managed to escape unharmed.
Killed in the crash were a certified flight instructor and the plane’s pilot-owner, Aaron McCarter, an aviation accident investigator with the NTSB, said during a news conference at the crash scene. Their names have not been released by the Summit County Medical Examiner’s office.
McCarter said the plane, a Piper PA-28-180, was on a training flight. Federal Aviation Administration information shows the Piper was a single-engine aircraft manufactured in 1963. Its registered owner is Echoaviation Holdings in Akron.
The flight instructor and pilot had departed Akron Fulton Airport about 2 p.m. and flew 30 or 40 miles south, doing some standard flight-training maneuvering at about 2,500 feet, McCarter said. They returned north to the airport and did two approaches.
It appears they did not land in the first approach, but formal air traffic control data will be reviewed later to confirm this, McCarter said.
“During the second approach, they overflew the runway and during that time, something upset the aircraft and the aircraft was seen by credible witnesses and doorbell cameras spiraling out of the sky from 1,000 feet, where it impacted the road behind me [Canterbury Circle] and subsequently struck the house,” McCarter said.
The crash on Canterbury Circle was about 1½ miles southwest of the Akron Fulton Airport.
Engine manufacturer Lycoming and plane maker Piper Aircraft are assisting in the investigation, McCarter said.
Experts in Washington, D.C., will review the weather to see if that was a factor in the crash. McCarter said winds were signficant, with gusts up to 25 knots, or about 29 mph.
A recovery company was set to begin removing the aircraft from the home on Friday and take it to Akron Fulton Airport, where the wreckage could be further studied.
A preliminary report will be completed in a week to 10 days, McCarter said. In about 12 to 14 months, a complete report will be released with a probable cause.
Investigators, McCarter said, will look at many factors. They will look at the wreckage; communications, including by air traffic controllers; the pilot’s and the instructors’ qualifications and their familiarity with the aircraft; the state of the flight control system and engine; and the weather.
“Our job is to figure out what happened so we can keep it from happening again,” McCarter said.
A video of the news conference that was recorded by Beacon Journal news partner News 5 Cleveland was used for this story.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron plane crash details emerge as NTSB investigates
Reporting by Mary Kay Quinn, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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