The small plane that crashed last month as it approached a Westchester County airport, taking the lives of Ben Chafetz z”l and Boruch Taub z”l, had a damaged engine that led the aircraft to bleed oil, according to an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, NBC reports.
Investigators said they found a hole in the top of the crankcase and noted fresh oil at the bottom of the fuselage, which apparently caused the plane to fly poorly.
The single-engine plane, an A36 Beechcraft Bonanza, took off from JFK Airport just before 5 p.m. on Jan. 19 and was en route to Cuyahoga County Airport in Richmond Heights, Ohio, the FAA said. Boruch, the pilot, brought his friend, Ben to New York for a levayah. The pair was flying home to Cleveland when a sudden emergency sprang up. The pilot reported having low oil pressure at 5:25 p.m., and then reported engine problems as the plane was about a mile from Westchester County Airport. Boruch put in a distress call to air traffic control.
The following is NBC‘s account:
“We are losing oil pressure, this is an emergency,” Taub said over the radio.
The plane was also losing altitude. Then, the maydays came in.
“Do you have engine power right now? Are you able to maintain altitude?” an air traffic controller asked Taub.
“No, the engine is overriding… Mayday, mayday, mayday,” came the response.
Just minutes later, the airport in White Plains lost contact with the aircraft. The plane was in the air for just 30 minutes after taking off from the NYC airport. The aircraft crashed into a heavily wooded area less than two miles short of the airport.
{Matzav.com}
Can you confirm if the plane was rented?
Please we should all be careful to rent planes from very reputable places only. The mandated inspections are, well, better than nothing, and maintenance is a very serious issue. I expect the club that rented out the plane will be found to have adhered to mandatory rules, and after all, the plane flew alright from Ohio to NY earlier that day; maintenance is expensive, tedious, causes down-time, but it is vital, especially with this sort of aircraft, and especially when they are not owned and utilized by a single pilot. Please let’s all be very careful and demand the highest standards and be prepared to pay for them, and may we never hear of tragedies again.
Sabotage?
Quite a few frum men whose families depended on them have died in these small aircraft accidents. Ever since R’ Chaim Weiss of monsey who was a devoted psychotherapist died this way, I’ve come to the conclusion that this thrill is just too risky for balei mishpacha to engage in. Sadly a number of frum Jews died under similiar curcumstances over recent years. Please use caution when the stakes are so high & the chances of survival are minimal in a plane crash. I still miss R Chaim Weiss whom I knew personally. Of course this was a gezeirah min shomayim & I’m not condemning anyone who chooses this mode of travel but maybe this should be a wake up call for us to be more careful in the future.