NTSB Decoding Black Boxes

The crew aboard a Gulfstream on approach to Houston Hobby Monday was warned their aircraft was too low -- about two minutes before the G-III impacted the ground, according to NTSB officials on the scene.

The G-III, originally characterized by the NTSB as a G-II, was on its way to Houston Hobby from Dallas Love to pick up former President George HW Bush for a trip to Ecuador. Interviews with Hobby controllers who were on duty Monday indicated the crew aboard the Gulfstream was asked to check altitude when the aircraft descended to about 400 feet, according to NTSB Vice Chairman Mark Rosenker. He was quoted by the Houston Chronicle.

The investigation, still in its preliminary stages, has not yet revealed how far from the threshold the aircraft was when that transmission came from ATC, nor whether the crew reacted.

Names of the crewmembers have not been released by the Harris County medical examiner. But Rosenker described the captain as a 67-year old flight veteran with 19,000 hours' experience. The second officer, he said, was equally salty -- a 62-year old pilot with 19,000 hours of stick time.

That, said the NTSB official, was "what I would characterize as a seasoned crew."

An initial study of the cockpit voice recorder indicated the 32-minute long verbal transcript was in good condition, Rosenker told reporters. He said it begins at about the time the crew started its descent into Hobby. Their check of the weather indicated winds were calm and conditions "were good for landing." However, the preliminary FAA accident report (below) indicates a quite different story, showing winds from the east-southeast at only three knots, but visibility just 1/8th of a mile in fog and low clouds.

There was no indication of a problem on the tape just two minutes before the accident, Rosenker said. The flight data recorder -- a digital model -- had not yet been decoded, he said, but it contains about 25 hours of data.

The FBI is investigating the accident, given the fact the G-III was going to fly President Bush to South America, but Rosenker seemed to indicate that was a matter of routine. "This one clearly is a high-visibility accident... but we investigate every aviation accident," Rosenker told the Chronicle.

FAA Preliminary Accident Report

IDENTIFICATION
 Regis#: 85VT    Make/Model: GLF3   Description: G-1159A GULFSTREAM 3/SMA-3
 Date: 11/22/2004   Time: 1214

 Event Type: Accident  Highest Injury: Fatal   Mid Air: N  Missing: N
 Damage: Destroyed

LOCATION
 City: HOUSTON           State: TX  Country: US

DESCRIPTION
 ACFT ON LANDING, WAS CHECKED IN ON FINAL TO RUNWAY 4 AND CRASHED, THE THREE
 PERSONS ON BOARD WERE FATALLY INJURED AND THE ACFT WAS DESTROYED, HOUSTON,
 TX

INJURY DATA   Total Fatal:  3
         # Crew:  2   Fat:  2   Ser:  0   Min:  0   Unk: 
         # Pass:   1   Fat:  1   Ser:  0   Min:  0   Unk: 
         # Grnd:        Fat:  0   Ser:  0   Min:  0   Unk: 

WEATHER: 1153Z WIND 110 AT 3 VIS1/8 FOG, 100' SCT, CEILING 600'BKN, 5500OVC, TEMP22,
     DPT21, A3001                               

OTHER DATA
 Activity: Unknown   Phase: Landing   Operation: General Aviation

 Departed: DALLAS, TX         Dep Date:  Dep. Time:  
 Destination: HOUSTON, TX       Flt Plan: IFR     Wx Briefing: U
 Last Radio Cont: 3 SOUTH OF HOUSTON
 Last Clearance: CLRD TO LAND

 FAA FSDO: HOUSTON, TX (SW09)          Entry date: 11/23/2004

FMI: www.ntsb.gov