Rockefeller crash: NTSB cites weather, pilot restrictions
PURCHASE – Poor visibility and medical restrictions were cited in a preliminary report the National Transportation Safety Board issued Saturday on the plane crash that killed Richard Rockefeller.
While the report did not specifically identify the cause of the crash, it did detail the events surrounding the fatal June 13 flight, including that Rockefeller, 65, arrived at Westchester County Airport more than an hour before his scheduled 9 a.m. flight and asked that his plane be made ready for an immediate departure.
The doctor and philanthropist who had flown into the area the night before to celebrate his father's 99th birthday, was returning to his home in Maine.
Rockefeller took off from the airport at 8:06 a.m., but controllers soon lost contact with him. Staff at the New York Terminal Radar Approach Control contacted Westchester's air traffic control tower inquiring about the plane.
"The local controller responded that the flight should have departed but that 'visibility was so low he couldn't tell,'" the FAA reported.
Two people who saw the plane crash in front of horse stables after striking trees and terrain behind a house said the weather was "dark, rainy, and foggy" and they only noticed the plane after "it appeared out of the clouds immediately above trees."
One witness said he heard the engine before the aircraft came into his view. The plane's wings were level when the left wing struck the first tree, witnesses told investigators. Records show the plane climbed less than 300 feet above the ground prior to the crash, officials said.
Rockefeller was licensed to operate the plane using instrument flight rules when meteorological conditions dictate it, officials said. However, he would have been required to wear corrective lenses for distant vision and glasses for near vision. The report did not say whether Rockefeller complied with those restrictions.
In addition, his most recent third-class medical certification issued last November extended only until July 31, 2014. Officials did not say why he was not valid for any class after that date. FAA rules say third-class medical certifications are only valid for 24 months after a medical exam.
The final report on the incident could take months before it is issued.
