Low fuel a factor in deadly crash
December 2, 2011, 11:03 am
A twin-engine Piper Navajo was recently approaching Chicago Executive Airport when the pilot made a low fuel announcement to the air safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board. The announcement was made right before the small plane crashed, killing the pilot and an elderly couple. Federal officials have yet to determine if the low fuel was the only cause of the accident.
The Chicago Tribune reported the small plane was about five miles away from the Chicago Executive Airport when the pilot, William Didier, noticed the fuel was low. Then the plane somehow lowered from the sky and flew through some trees and finally stopped between two residential homes in Riverwoods, Illinois. The crash caused a small fire.
When police and fire officials arrived at the crash, a hand-held extinguisher was used to put out the small fire, and no fuel was found in the plane's gas tank or on the ground at the site as the gas tanks had been damaged in the crash. Ed Malinowski, air safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, told the source that not finding fuel at the site does not mean there wasn't fuel in the tank prior to the impact, and the investigation of the accident will likely last a few months.
Charlie Norwesh, a Riverwoods resident, was watching TV when he heard a loud vibrating sound and a "whoosh" outside his home as the plane finally came to a stop on his block. Norwesh's wife Kim quickly called 911 and they both went out to investigate the accident.
"It was the most horrible thing I've ever seen," Norwesh told the newspaper. "It, to me, looked like a movie set. It didn't look real. It was that horrible."
Norwesh said he saw flames shoot up from the fuselage of the plane, and was able to see two bodies lying motionless in the wreckage and one passenger screaming that his leg was broken. Norwesh dragged the injured man out of the crumpled plane as his wife tended to a large laceration on his forehead. Then Norwesh used his own fire extinguisher to put out the fire, but the flames melted the extinguisher and severely burned his hands, the source reported.
Suddenly, behind Norwesh another injured person was found who said he was the plane's medic. This man was badly injured and required immediate medical attention, the newspaper said.
According to the Daily Herald, this tragic crash is one of three small plane accidents that have occurred in the Chicago suburbs in the past nine days, leaving eight people dead. Each crash had different causes and circumstances leading up to the accident, but the incidence illustrates how valuable it is to protect pilots and passengers with pilot insurance prior to taking flight.
The source reported On November 20, a 69-year-old man was killed when his single-engine plane crashed just after taking off from a small airstrip outside of Elgin. In addition, a single-engine Cirrus SR20 aircraft, equipped with a parachute and state-of-the-art features, crashed near Crystal Lake killing all four passengers.
Chicago Executive Airport Manager Dennis Rouleau told the source that small planes are very safe, and training courses are better than ever.
"There's not one common denominator," said Rouleau. "Accidents happen."
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