C340 Went Up As Mechanic Worked Inside Aircraft

The investigation continues into the explosion of a Cessna 340 while on the ramp at Lafayette Regional Airport, LA, last month. Sources tell ANN that it now appears there was an internal fuel leak, which led to a collection of fumes in the cabin. A lone mechanic working inside the cockpit, 61-year old Carl Moulis Fellow, was preparing to run-up the aircraft after maintenance, according to fellow mechanics on the ramp. They tell ANN he boarded, closed the cabin door and sat down in the pilot's seat. Fellow told his friends that he remembers "hearing the master switch 'click.'" That was about it.

After the explosion, the sight of Fellow sitting at the top of what was left of the C340 led his fellow mechanics to instantly think he was dead, according to sources at the airport. Although dazed and pinned by the panel and yoke, witnesses said Fellows had the presence of mind to grab the fire extinguisher and put out a few spot fires around him until the other mechanics sprang onto the carcass of the Cessna and pried him out.

The amazing part -- he walked away with barely a scratch! His eardrums were not even ruptured by the force of the powerful blast. Yet his eyeglasses were found about a hundred feet away.

The pilot had reported smelling gas in the cabin three weeks prior to the explosion, according to sources at the airport.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov