Says Air Traffic Controllers 'Misdirected' Pilot To An Airport Beyond Airplane's Glide Distance

A Georgia couple has sued the FAA, saying an air traffic controller directed them to an airport that was outside the glide distance of the TBM 850 they were aboard when it lost engine power in October 2014.

The TBM was being flown by S. Blaine McCaleb III with his wife Cynthia aboard. The plane lost power, and McCaleb declared an in-flight emergency. According to the complaint filed Friday in the U.S. District Court's Northern District of Georgia, the controller gave McCaleb vectors to an airport that was about 10 nautical miles away, rather than an airport that was only 1.7 nautical miles from their location. The plane went down onto an athletic field. Both people on board survived the accident, but were both seriously injured, according to the complaint.

The suit names the Department of Transportation and the FAA as defendants, saying the controller "failed to follow training directives and failed to use reasonable care during communications with the pilot.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that the airports are not named in the suit. But the Fayette County Sheriff's office said at the time that the plane had departed DeKalb-Peachtree Airport en route to Harris County Airport in Pine Mountain. The flight was diverted to Atlanta Regional Airport-Falcon Field in Peachtree City before it went down in an unoccupied athletic field at Starr's Mill High School in Fayetteville, GA.

The couple is seeking unspecified damages from the Government.

The NTSB's probable cause report, which is not admissible as evidence in court, said the probable cause of the accident was the pilot’s inadvertent deactivation of the yaw damper in flight, which resulted in a prolonged side-slip condition that led to fuel starvation and the eventual total loss of engine power. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s failure to attempt to restart the engine.

(Image from file. Not accident Airplane)

FMI: Original Report, NTSB Probable Cause Report