By Alan Levin
Three people on a plane and three others on the ground died after a corporate jet crashed into a residential cul-de-sac in a Maryland suburb of Washington, D.C.
The plane was attempting to land shortly before 11 a.m. today when it hit homes about 1 mile (1.6 kilometer) from the airport in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Michael Rosenberg, the plane’s owner and chief executive officer of closely held Health Decisions Inc., was aboard the twin-engine Embraer SA (ERJ) Phenom 100, according to a statement from his Durham, North Carolina-based company.
While the National Transportation Safety Board is just beginning its investigation, radio recordings obtained by Bloomberg News show some pilots warning of large numbers of birds near the Montgomery County Airpark’s runway minutes before the crash.
“Yeah, we’ve got an unusual amount of birds out here,” an unidentified voice said on a recording provided by LiveATC.net of the radio frequency pilots use to communicate at the airport.
He requested airport officials “bring out the cannon,” a device that sets off explosions to scare away birds. There were at least three radio warnings about birds in the minutes prior to the crash, though local authorities have yet to say what caused the accident about 20 miles northwest of the U.S. Capitol.
Young Children
Investigators haven’t had time to confirm the bird reports since arriving on scene, NTSB board member Robert Sumwalt said in a media briefing at the scene. “That is among the many things we will look at,” he said.
The plane hit three homes and one of its wings, where fuel tanks were located, came loose and set fire to one of the houses, he said.
Fire crews found the bodies of a mother and her two young children inside the house, Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service Chief Steve Lohr said at the briefing.
The aircraft is owned by Sage Aviation LLC in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, according to Federal Aviation Administration records. The registered agent of Sage Aviation is Rosenberg of Chapel Hill, according to records at the North Carolina Secretary of State’s office.
Sage Aviation couldn’t be reached to comment on the accident, and local authorities didn’t identify the victims. A telephone call to Rosenberg’s Health Decisions office wasn’t immediately returned and an outgoing voice mail message said the office was closed.
Earlier Crash
Health Decisions issued a statement saying Rosenberg was aboard the plane, according to a news report by the Triangle Business Journal in Raleigh, North Carolina.
NTSB records show this wasn’t Rosenberg’s first accident. He piloted a plane in a March 1, 2010, crash at the same Maryland airport, the records show. In that case, his single-engine turboprop went off the runway and skidded into a stand of trees after landing, according to the NTSB. He was unhurt, according to the agency’s report.
The NTSB recovered the crash-proof data and cockpit voice recorders from today’s accident and sent them to its Washington lab, Sumwalt said. Both were in good condition.
The airport has no control tower, so pilots use what is known as a common radio frequency to communicate to each other. At least one other plane was attempting to land ahead of the plane that crashed, according to the radio calls.
“Hey guys, I think that Phenom just came up short,” a man said over the radio shortly before 10:45 a.m., according to the LiveATC.net recording.
Bird Strikes
While crashes caused by birds are rare, a flock of geese brought down a US Airways flight into the Hudson River in New York on Jan. 15, 2009.
The Montgomery County Airpark has one runway 4,200 feet (1,280 meters) long, and is one of several around the Washington area capable of handling corporate aircraft.
Winds were light and visibility was at least 10 miles at the time of the accident, according to the National Weather Service. – Bloomberg
