For the week of March 26 - April 1, 2003

Jet was cleared for descent, then crashed

By PAT MURPHY
Express Staff Writer

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At least one cause of the Cessna Citation 501 jet crash on March 15 between Carey and Hailey apparently can be ruled out.

The jet did not suffer catastrophic in-flight structural failure and disintegrate before hitting the ground, according to Tom Little, an investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board’s regional office in Seattle.

However, Little said it might be months before the NTSB investigation reaches a conclusion about the actual cause.

Little said the jet apparently struck the ground at about a 15-degree angle then disintegrated. Wreckage was strewn along a southwest alignment for about a quarter of a mile, he said.

At the point of impact, Little said a pool of jet fuel, similar to kerosene in composition, had collected. This indicates there was no explosion.

Although he declined to discuss pilot Jay Call’s last radio transmission with controllers at the Salt Lake City Air Route Control Center, Little said the twin-engine jet was cleared to descend to 15,000 feet from its cruise altitude and the pilot acknowledged the transmission and began the descent.

As for a report from Mountain Home Air Force Base controllers that the jet plunged 7,500 feet rapidly in one minute from 16,500 feet to 9,000 feet, Little said he also would check another report the jet rapidly lost 9,000 feet of altitude in one minute. Either descent rate is far faster than recommended and, if true, could point to reasons for the accident, such as sudden loss of cabin pressure that could physically affect the pilot and passengers.

(A tragic example of lost pressurization occurred in October 1999, when championship golfer Payne Stewart and five others were killed when their Learjet suddenly lost cabin pressure after takeoff in Florida and flew on autopilot at 45,000 feet for four hours before running out of fuel and crashing in South Dakota.)

A spokesperson in the Federal Aviation Administration regional office in Seattle, Holly Baker, said the last transmission was at 2:10 p.m., about five minutes before the estimated time of the crash. However, she declined to disclose contents of the last radio contact.

The crash took the life of Call, 62, founder of the 42-state chain of 160 Flying J roadside service plazas, and Richard "Buzz" Germer and his wife Ilene, both 56, of Sun Valley. Germer was a friend of Call and retired executive of Call’s corporation, which is based in Ogden, Utah. He was returning to Sun Valley after reportedly undergoing treatment for cancer.

Wreckage pieces have been collected and will be sent to Phoenix and studied by a joint team of investigators from NTSB, the Federal Aviation Administration as well from Cessna and manufacturers of the engines and other onboard flight systems.

Aircraft accident investigators search a myriad of sources for possible causes--engine and structural failure; fuel contamination; flight control and system malfunctions; pilot disability; weather, and air traffic control, aircraft maintenance history, among other factors.

Call’s last physical was 11 months ago. A pilot of some 40 years with a commercial license and Air Transport Pilot rating, Call was rated to fly the Citation jet, which can be operated by one pilot on non-commercial flights.

Meanwhile, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality said a contractor would be hired by the jet’s insurance carrier to remove contaminated soil and fuel at the crash site beginning next week.

According to Bill Allred, a supervisor with DEQ’s Twin Falls office, none of the fuel reached the nearby Little Wood Reservoir and instead was contained in a stream by absorbent floats that have been replaced periodically.

Although he could not estimate the amount of fuel spilled at the crash site, the Citation was airborne only about 30 minutes before crashing.

Blaine County Sheriff Walt Femling could not immediately estimate the cost of search and rescue personnel as well as overnight guards at the crash site. But he said the work is generally considered part of his department’s responsibilities.

 

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