Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, December 15, 1994 TAG: 9412150068
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-15 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MORRISVILLE, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
Investigators looked for clues to the cause of the accident, the airline's second in two months.
Five people survived the crash of the twin-engine Jetstream 3200, which went down Tuesday night 31/2 miles short of the runway at Raleigh-Durham Airport.
John Lauber of the National Transportation Safety Board said investigators had not ruled out any factors, including weather, as a possible cause of the crash.
Both pilots were killed, but investigators recovered the plane's flight data and cockpit voice recorders, the so-called ``black boxes,'' and sent them to Washington for analysis.
Neither the pilots nor the control tower had said anything on the radio before the crash that offered any clues, said David Hinson, administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration.
Road construction started Wednesday because rescuers had to use four-wheel-drive vehicles to reach the site, taking 20 minutes for a 500-yard trek to reach the five survivors, said Morrisville Fire Chief Tony Chioutakis.
``The last four-wheel-drive that went in to get the last survivor out, we had to push him up the hill because of the mud and crud and everything,'' said neighbor David Stanley.
Firefighters had to use fire extinguishers against flames in the wreckage because fire trucks also were unable to reach the site.
One survivor, Ronald Lewis, 35, of Crystal Lake, Ill., was in critical but stable condition with broken bones and internal injuries.
``This is our little miracle,'' his wife, Diane, said at a news conference. ``I have a husband for Christmas. I have a father who's going to be there for my kids.'' She said they have four children ranging in age from less than a year to 8.
The two-engine Jetstream seats 19 people and has a 52-foot wingspan.
It was the top regional passenger aircraft in 1993 by total number of seats, at 4,294, according to the Regional Airline Association.
The plane that crashed was registered in 1991 and over the years had made four unscheduled landings, for engine power surges and one case of smoke in the cockpit, the FAA said.
Both crewmen were exper- ienced. The captain, Michael P. Hillis, 29, had 457 hours flying in that model Jetstream, and his first officer, Matthew I. Sailor, 25, had 677 hours. Each had more than 3,450 hours of total flying time.
The NTSB's Lauber said 600 or more hours of career flying time is considered significant.
American Eagle, sister company of American Airlines, has been involved in at least four other fatal crashes in the past seven years.
On Oct. 31, an American Eagle ATR-72 crashed at Roselawn, Ind., killing all 68 people aboard. Ice on the wings is the suspected cause; on Friday, the government barred ATR aircraft from flying in icy weather.
A 1988 American Eagle crash killed all 12 people aboard a flight that crashed outside the Raleigh-Durham airport after taking off in dense fog.
Airline spokesman Marty Heires said American Eagle follows most FAA safety standards for large airlines.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB