Tuesday, Nov. 03, 2009

Bauer kept cool head in accident

It took three years before a federal court ruling officially confirmed what I knew to be the absolute truth on Tuesday afternoon, May 23, 2006, in Blacksburg: There was something wrong with the plane that crashed, injuring Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer and me.

The June 11, 2009, court ruling concluded that the wrong parts were put into the engine.

"By overhauling the engine and returning it to service with incorrect bolts installed, respondent created an unnecessary risk in engine performance," wrote Administrative Judge Richard C. Goodwin. "Materials and techniques specified in maintenance manuals must be followed in order to best ensure safe engine, and aircraft, performance. Carelessly departing from these requirements placed those protections at risk."

That was the finding in the civil penalty case brought by the Federal Aviation Administration against an aircraft engine company that had overhauled the engine weeks before the plane crash.

I had no way of knowing we were flying with the wrong parts on May 23, but I knew on takeoff that something was wrong because the plane would not fly. It powered up to ground effect, which means it was off the ground, but not going fast enough to actually fly. I remember looking over at Andre, who was piloting, and I could see from the tightness of his jaw that he knew we were at the point of no return, that we were going to have to take whatever was in front of us. That is what they teach us as pilots to do and to accept.

We were going to ride the runway out as long as we could in hopes to gain more airspeed.

A few seconds later, I was in the middle of an aircraft that was on fire and could barely move my head.

I remember Andre testifying in court, "I had been taught it was much better to try to take on whatever may be in front of you when you had lost an engine - and I knew something wasn't right. It was no longer getting power."

We were at the point of no return, with two options: to try to stop a plane that we were not sure we could stop with a chance of survival, or to fly the plane out, hoping to build enough speed so we would not fall into the deep gully that lay at the end of the runway, along with power lines and trees.

I've been reading how the pilots of the Learjet at the Columbia Airport, who faced the same choice last year, died when they chose to jam on the brakes. In Blacksburg that May afternoon, we tried for speed, not knowing that the airworthiness of our plane was compromised.

The fact that I am here to write this tells me Andre made the right decision. His sharp instinct, quick thinking and piloting skills saved our lives.

The writer lives in Columbia.