NTSB: Cal Fire Plane engine did not fail

Visalia Times-Delta - www.visaliatimesdelta.com -:

The engines of a spotter plane that crashed in September and killed a firefighter and pilot on board appeared to have been running when the aircraft went down in the foothills northeast of Porterville, a report from the National Transportation Safety Board said.

"Air Attack 410," a twin-engine plane, was in the air over the Bear Creek Drainage about 25 miles from Porterville, looking for new outbreaks after a series of small fires in the area, when it went down in the wooded area.

CALFIRE Battalion Chief Rob Stone and George "Sandy" Willett, a contract pilot, were killed in the crash.

A Tulare man, Patrick Courtney, has been accused of setting the fires that prompted the plane's search, and he has been charged with second-degree murder for the deaths of Stone and Willett, as well as other crimes.

He is scheduled to go to trial on June 5.

The NTSB, which is investigating the crash, has posted portions of its findings into the cause of the crash on its Web site.

In its latest posting, dated Monday, a report states that between October and April, the plane's engines were torn down and examined at the Honeywell Aerospace facility in Phoenix, Ariz.

The findings of experts there indicate that when the engines crashed into the trees or the ground as the plane went down, they were running. "No pre-existing condition was found on either engine that would have interfered with normal operation."

That would indicate that the engines didn't stall or have power to them cut mid-air.

But the report states only the factual findings, not the conclusions of NTSB officials or their theory on why the plane went down.

Wayne Pollack, the NTSB investigator looking into the crash, said Wednesday that a formal conclusion on what may have caused the plane to go has not been made, and he did not say when that may happen.