NTSB Releases Prelim In Runway Overrun Crash

A man who lost his wife after a plane impacted their home near Dennis F Cantrell Field/Conway Municipal Airport (CWS) last month is suing the estate of the pilot killed in the accident.

The Northwest Arkansas Morning-News reports J.V. Brady, who was also injured in the June 30 landing accident, alleges his wife, Janet, perished "in an agonizingly slow and painful manner" after a Cessna Citation 550 overshot the runway at CWS and impacted their home.

The lawsuit alleges the Citation's pilot, Hugh Rains, had earlier problems landing on the 4,800-foot runway, and that the plane also experienced mechanical issues in the past, reports the paper.

Also named in the suit are IHR Administrative Services of Delaware, Rains' employer and the owner of the accident aircraft; and Cessna Aircraft.

As ANN reported, the Citation impacted the house, located approximately 500 feet from the runway end at CWS. Witnesses told investigators the aircraft may have landed long, and may have been attempting a go-around when the accident occurred.

A passenger on the plane, and another occupant of the home who was outside at the time, survived the accident with injuries.

In its Preliminary Report issued this week, the National Transportation Safety Board notes one witness did not see where the plane touched down on the runway. Another witness told the Board the Citation "added power at the last second, lifted the nose wheel off the ground and struck the (jet-blast deflector)" at the end of the runway, before impacting the Brady home.

That witness, an employee at the local FBO, also noted the runway as damp from a recent rain shower.

Officials in the Arkansas community have since met with the FAA to discuss moving the airport. It isn't the first time the idea has been bandied about -- talk of moving the airport dates back the 1970s.

At the forefront of the city's concerns about the current airport, is the lack of safety zones at the current facility. A 1990 accident, involving a twin-engine plane that impacted a fence and house on approach to land at the airport, killed the plane's co-pilot.

FMI: Read The NTSB Preliminary Report