Chutists’ Plane Lacked Required Safety Device

Federal investigators reported Sunday that a sky divers’ plane that crashed in Perris last week and killed 16 people lacked a key safety device required by law.

The plane was missing an automatic feathering system, a device that makes a plane more stable if it has to operate on one engine, said Don Llorente, who heads the National Transportation Safety Board investigation. The DeHavilland Twin Otter crashed during takeoff after the failure of its right engine.

Llorente declined to say whether the feathering system would have prevented the crash. “That would be speculation,” he said. “It would have enhanced the control of the plane.”

The plane’s owner, Ben Conatser, denied any wrongdoing and said he understood that the feathering device was optional. The Twin Otter’s feathering device was disconnected when he purchased the plane in 1989, said Conatser, who also owns the Perris Valley Airport, where the crash occurred.

Conatser said the original auto-feathering systems on Twin Otters were notoriously unreliable. A few were known to have activated in flight, “which ruined a couple of engines,” he said, adding that operators frequently disconnected the devices.

“Feathering” an engine is nothing more than repositioning a propeller. Pilots move the propeller from its normal position to cut down on air resistance after the engine fails. That makes the plane easier to fly without the malfunctioning engine.

A pilot can feather an engine manually, but an automatic device saves the pilot from having to make a split-second decision in an emergency.

Pilot Rowland Guilford, who did not survive the crash last Wednesday, manually feathered the engine, Conatser said. It is not clear, however, how soon the engine was feathered after if failed.

Investigators said they believe the engine stalled because of contaminated fuel. Investigators found impurities in the tank of the failed engine and the engine itself. They are testing to determine the nature of the chocolate-brown contaminant and its source.

“The engine will not run on this substance,” Llorente said.

Conatser denied reports that the Twin Otter had also suffered an engine failure in August, forcing sky divers into an emergency bail out at low altitude. In that incident, Conatser said, a power surge in the engine prompted the pilot to turn back as a precaution. The engine was never shut down, and the sky divers left the plane only because they did not want to miss a chance to jump, he said.

As a result of the accident, the airport owner said he is working with engineers to design a new restraint system for sky divers. The jumpers on the Twin Otter were not wearing safety restraints, a factor that could have contributed to the high death toll. Only six sky divers survived. All remain hospitalized with serious injuries.

“We’re trying to come up with a new design that could be acceptable to the NTSB and that also could be accepted by the sky-diving community,” Conatser said. “If it’s uncomfortable and they can become entangled, it worries the sky divers, and they won’t use them.”