Smoke indicated problems in plane crash | News, Sports, Jobs

This photo of the badly damaged plane looking in the direction of flight was included in this week's FAA report.

A smell of smoke was an early sign that something was wrong, according to a preliminary report from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on the crash landing and fire of a Cessna 750 at 10:11 a.m. on August 5 at Chautauqua County Airport near Jamestown.

While the pilot, identified as Orchard Park businessman Gerald Buchheit, was seriously injured, the co-pilot, who first noticed the smoke, suffered minor injuries. The plane, owned by Access Stripe, was en route from Dunkirk to Fort Lauderdale to pick up aircraft parts and a mechanic to work on another company plane at the airport in the north of the county.

Shortly after takeoff, air traffic control communications showed that a Buffalo-based approach controller was clearing the flight to 47,000 feet, but the crew did not respond. After several unsuccessful attempts, the controller contacted Cleveland to see if the flight had switched to his radio frequency.

“During the first climb at an altitude of about 1,500 meters, (the co-pilot) smelled 'electrical smoke', but the pilot did not.” says the report. “The co-pilot then lost track of the smell, but as the aircraft climbed to an altitude of approximately 8,000 feet, both pilots noticed the smell of electrical smoke. Both pilots reported that there was a smell of smoke, but no visible smoke.”

Later, the air traffic controller from Buffalo made temporary contact with the crew of the Cessna, including

“very mutilated” Transmissions. The last transmission from the flight crew included “We are

about to land at Jamestown.”

When the aircraft was at 10,000 feet, “Acceleration… well over 250 (knots) with nose down,” The copilot said the “Masterful caution” and panel segments illuminated,

along with other messages from the Crew Alerting System. He tried to contact the air traffic controller

before he realized that “Comm 2 was down and big red X's were showing on the Garmin 5000,” says the report.

“The co-pilot described the actions of the two crew members after landing, when the cabin was filled with

Smoke and they checked their best escape routes as the plane was surrounded by fire,“, the report said. “Eventually the pilot opened the main cabin door and both crew members exited the aircraft without assistance.”

Investigators said in the report that a visual inspection of the engines also revealed thermal damage consistent with a post-impact fire and that there was no evidence of any pre-impact mechanical abnormalities. In addition, the co-pilot stated that he monitored engine functions throughout the flight and that there were no CAS reports related to the engines and that none of the engines were malfunctioning.

FAA officials are classifying the crash as a Class 3 investigation. The goal of this investigation is to uncover safety issues that will reveal the underlying causes of the accident.