ENGINE FAILURE AND LANDING GEAR BLAMED FOR CLIFTON CRASH

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

ENGINE failure and a faulty landing gear were listed as the probable causes for last year’s fatal plane crash near Clifton Pier, according Civil Aviation’s final report.

Investigators have completed their probe into the Ferguson Air crash that saw pilot Rufus Ferguson emerge as a “hero” for his efforts to save the lives of his passengers on December 2, 2014.

“The aircraft made an attempt to land at Lynden Pindling International Airport,” read a summary statement released from the Ministry of Transport and Aviation yesterday, “but due to a problem with the left landing gear, aborted the landing and executed a flyby of the Air Traffic Control tower, to confirm that the landing gear was down.”

The statement continued: “During this process, and during an attempt at another landing, the right engine failed, forcing the pilot to ditch the aircraft in the sea, as it was unable to maintain a safe altitude while operating on one engine.”

“The Air Accident Investigation & Prevention Unit has determined that the probable causes of this accident were: engine failure and the inability of the aircraft to maintain a safe altitude.”

It added: “One of the contributing factors includes the failure of the left main landing gear.”

There were four Bahamians on board the Piper Navajo4 Chieftan PA 31-350 aircraft, and seven Americans.

The 10-seat aircraft operated by Ferguson Air crashed around 8.20am about 550 feet off the southern tip of Clifton Pier. According to police, the plane was travelling from Governor’s Harbour, Eleuthera, to New Providence.

Of the 11 passengers onboard, there was only one fatality: a 77-year-old American man. The man was pulled from the water unconscious and died shortly after he arrived on shore.

The plane’s registration is C6-REV.

Days after the crash, Capt Ferguson recounted his harrowing experience to The Tribune.

He said his faith and his training were the only things helping him overcome the landing gear problem and an engine failure which, if not for his actions, could have caused an aviation disaster.

“After seeing the warning I called the tower to let them know of the difficulty and said that I would slow down to troubleshoot to see what the problem was and if it could be fixed,” he said in December.

“If I had landed with the warning indicating I had only two gears out and locked, I could’ve landed on the runway and the plane would have gone to one side and killed everybody. The (officials in the tower) asked me to fly in so they could visually look and see if all the landing gears were down.”

Comments

B_I_D___ says...

That'll do it...pretty much any piston engine twin with an engine failure and the gear DOWN is doomed and almost unflyable. You are going in one direction, and quickly...DOWN. Especially being so low to the ground after executing a flyby on the tower the good Capt was out of luck. With the cards he was dealt, this one ended about as well as you could ever want. He kept a cool head and ditched where he thought best, if he tried to get back to the airport he could be in the pines,or a hole in the marshes.

Posted 3 March 2015, 2:57 p.m. Suggest removal

Romrok says...

I believe he should have an award, be honoured for his service. An amazing person, I would hate to have been in his position, I would not have made the best decisions I'm sure.

Posted 3 March 2015, 3:40 p.m. Suggest removal

Economist says...

It sounds like he is a good pilot but, as the owner, lousy at maintenance. Civil Aviation needs to take some of the responsibility for poor oversight.

Posted 3 March 2015, 4:33 p.m. Suggest removal

Well_mudda_take_sic says...

Our Civil Aviation under Hanna-Martin will never be competent enough to do more than diddly squat when it comes to determining the real underlying cause of a plane crash.

Posted 3 March 2015, 5:29 p.m. Suggest removal

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