Family reported engine trouble just before fatal Sanford crash: new NTSB report
The last that anyone heard from the plane that crashed in Lee County last month was a cellphone call from the wife of the pilot saying they were having engine problems and needed to make an emergency landing at the airport, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
The plane, a Cirrus SR22T, crashed about five miles short of Raleigh Executive Jetport, killing pilot Travis Buchanan, his wife, Candace, and their children, Aubrey and Walker. The family owned Buchanan Farms, where they grew strawberries, squash, cucumbers and other vegetables and held festivals, car shows and other community events.
The family took off from Merritt Island, Florida, southeast of Orlando, shortly after 11 a.m. on July 7 on their way home to Lee County.
They had gone about 100 miles when Travis Buchanan told an air traffic controller that the plane was having electrical problems, according to a preliminary NTSB report released Thursday. Buchanan said it was not an emergency and that he would continue to his destination “via visual flight rules,” meaning the weather was clear enough to see the ground and other aircraft.
As they approached Raleigh Executive Jetport, Candace Buchanan used her cellphone to call the airport to report that they did not have navigational or communication equipment. She asked about wind speed and direction and which direction the plane should approach the runway, according to the NTSB.
A short time later, Candace Buchanan told the airport the plane was “having engine problems and they needed to make a straight in emergency landing,” according to the NTSB. There was no further communication with the plane, the report says.
The four-page NTSB report is preliminary; it describes the agency’s initial findings but doesn’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.
The Cirrus SR22T was equipped with a parachute that can more gently lower it to the ground in an emergency, but it was not used, according to the NTSB. The handle inside the cockpit that a pilot would use to deploy the parachute in flight was found to have a safety pin installed, according to the report.
One of the two fuel tanks in the wings was empty, but the second “contained about 3 gallons of blue liquid, consistent with 100LL aviation fuel.” The plane had electronic fuel gauges.
