The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are investigating a private plane crash that left 10 people dead at Addison Municipal Airport in Texas on Sunday.
The twin-engine Beechcraft BE-350 King Air was attempting take-off when it collided with a hangar and burst into flames just after 9am on Sunday, killing everyone on board.
The aircraft’s landing gear was down when the crash occurred, confirmed the NTSB, which also managed to recover the airplane’s ‘black box’, containing communication between the pilots and air traffic control.
“We don’t know exactly what’s on the recorder, but what the recorders do will capture external communications between the crew and air traffic; and of particular interest to us is of the internal cockpit conversation between the pilot and the co-pilot,” said Bruce Landsberg, NTSB Vice Chairman.
The cause for the crash is still unknown, but a preliminary report is expected in two weeks, added Landsberg, who also mentioned maintenance records and the two pilots’ training records as areas of interest for the investigation.
“Myself and my other pilot friend, we knew that the plane was not producing the type of take-off power that it typically would by the sound, plus it wasn’t climbing the way it typically would and it appeared a little tail low and we knew that airplane was in trouble,” said pilot David Snell, who witnessed the crash from a nearby hangar.
“All my years of flying I’ve never seen anything like that. But my thoughts are for the families, the people, the lives changed and there’s nothing you can do about it.”