NTSB updates Colonie plane crash
COLONIE, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- We have new information about the plane that crashed Monday morning near the William K. Sanford town library in Colonie. NEWS10 reporter James De La Fuente attended a press conference on Tuesday June 18 when the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and local officials gave a brief update into the crash.
“Before we begin, I would like to express my most sincere condolences to the family and friends of our deceased pilot,” started Lynn Spencer, Air Safety Investigator with the NTSB.
Spencer says they are not identifying the sole occupant and victim at this time other than to say that she is a Canadian woman. Spencer says the twin engine personal aircraft was headed to Canada and had made it about a mile and a half from the airport before she says the plane seemed to struggle to gain altitude. “We will be looking at pilot qualifications, the training, the airframe itself and environmental factors,” stated Spencer.
Spencer also said that because the plane was destroyed by a post-crash explosion her team will be relying on the community for some help in identifying what may have gone tragically wrong. “Of note was that the airplane seemed to have difficulty gaining altitude and then went nearly straight up to about 800 feet and did a loop and then turned left, did at least one roll, and then another left hand turn to the final impact.” She went on to explain how control could have been lost. “When a pilot is struggling to maintain control of the airplane, you often see what looks like acrobatic flying. And it's simply the pilot's attempt to deal with everything from an engine failure to a control failure to an environmental event. Anything that upsets the normal flight trajectory.”
Spencer says she has received a number of reports from the community and eyewitness accounts. “This kind of flight path is typical of an extreme loss of control situation in the cockpit and a pilot attempting to regain control of the airplane. The aircraft struggle was noted by the air traffic controller who canceled the takeoff clearance for the following aircraft because he could see that the departing aircraft was having difficulty.”
She says the rest of the plane will be packed up and shipped for further investigation. “And later tonight [Tuesday] [the airplane] will be going to Massachusetts to a secure facility there where we will start a full layout, and examination of the airframe and the engines.” Preliminary reports will be completed in the next few weeks and a final report in 18-24 months.
Maxwell Road between Albany Shaker Road and Old Niskayuna Road have now been reopened to the public.