Pilot reported engine, navigation problems before NC crash killed family, NTSB says
The single-engine plane that crashed in Lee County on Monday, killing a family of four, reported navigation and engine problems as it approached the airport, according an investigator from the National Transportation Safety Board.
The plane, a Cirrus SR22T, was about seven miles from Raleigh Executive Jetport when the pilot contacted the airport and reported the “loss of communications and navigational equipment,” NTSB investigator Ryan Enders said at a press conference Tuesday.
A short time later, the pilot reported “engine issues,” Enders said. The plane crashed in a field south of Riddle Road, a couple of miles from the airport, at about 2 p.m., according to the State Highway Patrol.
Enders did not identify who was piloting the plane. It was registered to Travis Buchanan of Lee County.
Buchanan, his wife, Candace, and their children, Aubrey and Walker, were killed. Travis and Candace Buchanan were both 35; Aubrey was 10 and Walker was 9.
The family took off from Merritt Island, Florida, on the coast east of Orlando, shortly after 11 a.m. Monday. The plane had nearly completed the 519-mile trip when it crashed, according to the flight tracking website FlightaAware.com.
Three members of the family died at the site of the crash, according to the highway patrol. The fourth was taken by Carolina Air Care helicopter to UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill and later died there.
Enders said the plane was equipped with a parachute that can more gently lower it to the ground in an emergency, but it does not appear that it was used.
“We’re not certain why yet,” he said. “Sometimes that’s an altitude thing. There’s many factors that can play into that, but it does not appear that the parachute deployed.”
The NTSB is expected to release a preliminary report about the crash in a few weeks. It will describe the agency’s initial findings but won’t make any conclusions about what might have caused the crash. A final report identifying a likely cause will take about 18 months to complete, Enders said.
Enders encouraged anyone who may have seen the plane crash or has information about it to contact the NTSB by email at witness@ntsb.gov.
