
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 22, 1995                   TAG: 9503220075
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

BOARD SAYS ALLISON WAS RESPONSIBLE

The helicopter crash that killed Davey Allison probably was caused by the stock car driver's mistakes and inexperience in piloting the aircraft, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded Tuesday.

In its final ruling on the July 12, 1993, crash at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, the board blamed Allison's ``poor in-flight decision to land downwind in a confined area that was surrounded by high obstructions.''

The board also listed Allison's ``failure to properly compensate for the tailwind condition'' as a probable cause of the fatal crash. And it said another factor related to the crash was Allison's lack of experience in the kind of helicopter he was flying.

``In almost every accident that occurs, the individual that's operating the vehicle doesn't intend for an accident to occur,'' said Jim Hall, the board's chairman. ``But in this particular situation, the facts speak for themselves.''

A licensed airplane pilot, Allison had received his helicopter rating about a year before the crash. But he had only 2.8 hours of flight instruction in his Hughes 369HS helicopter and had not practiced downwind landings like the one he was attempting at Talladega, in a fenced-in parking lot crossed by power lines.

Allison, 32, died one day after the crash from head injuries. The only passenger in the helicopter, former driver Red Farmer, was seriously injured but recovered.

Allison's estate and Farmer have filed a $25 million lawsuit against the helicopter's maker, McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems.

by CNB