By Jerry Jordan, Editor
New information from the National Transportation Safety Board indicates the pilots of the destroyed Cessna Latitude owned by JRM Air, LLC attempted to make a maneuver known as a ‘go around’ after the plane bounced twice on landing at the Elizabethton Municipal Airport on August 14.
The maneuver failed, however, according to the report as the plane did not respond to the pilots’ control inputs.
“Airport surveillance video captured the initial touchdown, which occurred near the runway touchdown zone, and portions of the accident sequence,” states the NTSB preliminary report, released on Aug 22. “The airplane bounced twice, then continued airborne down runway 24 until it touched down a third time with about 1,000 ft of paved surface remaining. The video revealed that the right main landing gear collapsed and the outboard section of the right wing contacted the runway shortly after the third touchdown. The airplane departed the paved surface beyond the runway 24 departure end threshold, through an open area of grass, down an embankment, through a chain-link fence, and up an embankment, coming to rest on the edge of Tennessee Highway 91.
“The pilots’ account of the landing was generally consistent with the video. The pilots also reported that, following the second bounce, a go-around was attempted; however, the airplane did not respond as expected, so they landed straight-ahead on the runway and could not stop the airplane prior to the excursion. After the airplane came to a stop, the flight crew secured the engines and assisted the passengers with the evacuation.
“The airplane came to rest upright, on a true heading of 285º. The fuselage aft of the main entry door, the right wing, and the empennage were consumed by the post-accident fire. The left main and nose landing gear were separated from the airframe during the impact sequence. The right main landing gear remained under the right wing and was heavily fire damaged.”
The report states both pilots had several thousand hours of experience and were able to help Earnhardt Jr. his wife, Amy, and their daughter, Isla, off the plane safely. The family, according to the NTSB report, suffered only minor injuries. They were all taken to a hospital that day and quickly released to go home. The family dog, Gus, was also with them on the plane and was uninjured, although it is not stated in the official report.
Earnhardt Jr., who was flying in to provide commentary for the weekend’s NASCAR race at Bristol Motor Speedway, was given the weekend off by NBC and returned to his home in North Carolina that evening. He was, however, observed at the track entering his motor coach following his visit to the hospital.
“The pilot, seated in the left cockpit seat and acting as the flying pilot and pilot-in-command, held an airline transport pilot certificate and a type rating in the accident airplane,” the reports states. “He reported 5,800 hours total flight experience, including 765 hours in the accident airplane. His latest recurrent training occurred in October 2018. The copilot, seated in the right cockpit seat, held an airline transport pilot certificate and a type rating in the accident airplane. He reported 11,000 hours total flight experience, including 1,165 hours in the accident airplane. His latest recurrent training occurred in October 2018.”
The team of investigators from the NTSB includes Ralph Hicks, as well as, Jeffery Davis, a representative of Pratt & Whitney, the Canadian company that built the plane’s engines, Peter Basile, of Textron Aviation in Wichita, KS and Rocky Davidson with the Federal Aviation Administration in Nashville, TN.
Four days following the crash, Earnhardt Jr. thanked fans and supporters via social media for their thoughts and prayers, as well as, sharing his appreciation for letting he, Amy and Isla process what had happened in private, as a family. He also expressed thanks for his pilots’ quick action, as well as, the response from local law enforcement and rescue crews for their assistance. He said would not speculate regarding the cause of the accident and allow the investigation to play out. Since that time, Earnhardt Jr. has hosted one Dale Jr. Download podcast and with his daughter, Isla, in the background, he explained they are trying to “get back to normal.”
“It’s been a very difficult few days for everybody but me and my wife and our family are trying our best to get back to normal, as soon as possible,” he said, in his opening monolog for the podcast that had been previously recorded. “We just really appreciate all the support. It just means a lot to us and want you to know that. So, enjoy the podcast and we will be seeing you soon.”
Earnhardt Jr. is expected to race this weekend in the Xfinity event at Darlington Raceway, as well as, call the shots for the Cup Series race on Sunday with the rest of the NBC crew.
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is old news “news?” this has been known for days
EDITOR’S REPLY: That’s fine. I have been busy over the weekend and wanted to make sure our readers had it. Thank you, for pointing out that we were a couple of days behind on it. Sometimes, life happens and we can’t always be on the breaking news cycle. — Jerry Jordan/Kickin’ the Tires