Cirrus Apparently In A Flat Spin On Impact

A Cirrus SR-20 went down in the parking lot of an Ace Hardware store near Houston's Hobby Airport last week resulting in the fatal injury of all three people on board the airplane.

A surveillance video camera at the store captured the moment of impact. It hit a car that was in the store parking lot, destroying both the airplane and the car.

In the video, the shadow of the plane can be seen rotating counter-clockwise, as if it is in a flat spin. The Houston Chronicle reports that NTSB investigator Tom Latson said in a news conference Friday that the plane was "relatively wing-level, relatively nose-level and spinning counterclockwise to the left."

The plane was reportedly on its third landing attempt when the accident occurred, according to Latson. He said that controllers at Hobby waived off the pilot's first landing attempt, and that the pilot came in too high on the second attempt.

"Witnesses saw the plane bank to the left and impact at the 6800 block of Telephone," Latson said.

Latson said that he had confirmed that the plane was topped off at Norman, OK, which should have resulted in five hours of flight time, however there was reportedly no indication of a fuel spill at the accident scene or a post-crash fire. Latson would not speculate about fuel starvation as a possible reason for the accident.

The Cirrus' airframe parachute was not deployed.

(Image from CCTV video)

FMI: www.ntsb.gov