ATC Warned Pilot Of Altitude Deviation

Controllers received no indications of difficulty from the pilot of a Beechcraft BE35 Bonanza that crashed Tuesday morning in Easton, MA... but they definitely knew something was wrong.

"There was no distress call," said Timothy Monville, a senior air safety investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, according to WCVB-5 in Boston. "I can only discuss words that were exchanged (between the pilot and air traffic control). I don't know what was happening in the cockpit."

As ANN reported, the aircraft impacted a parking lot in Easton, about 20 miles from Logan International Airport. Three people were killed in the accident, which involved a privately-owned aircraft flying an Angel Flight mission to transport cancer patient Robert Gregory for treatment in Boston.

Gregory's wife, Donna, was also onboard the accident flight. It was the second fatal crash nationwide of an Angel Flight plane in the past four weeks.

In a press briefing Wednesday, Monville said ATC tried warning pilot Joseph Baker that he was flying too low immediately before the plane disappeared from radar.

"The aircraft on radar was observed with more altitude deviations -- up and down -- and the controller asked the pilot with words such as, 'Are you OK?' And he also provided a low altitude alert and climb immediately. The pilot did not acknowledge, and the aircraft at that time was at 1,400 feet," Monville said.

Other information from the accident scene is still tough to come by... and so far, there's little to indicate what may have caused the plane to go down. Monville said it appears the plane descended steeply, and impacted "right wing low." (Photos from the scene show the charred, but largely intact, airframe, with its nose section crumpled and no sign of in-flight separation -- Ed.)

"(Investigators will examine) maintenance records, pilot training records. Obviously, we will be waiting on autopsy and toxicology reports, as we always do," Monville said.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov