Pilot ignored warning of darkness prior to deadly plane crash on Catalina Island, NTSB report says
The pilot of a small plane that crashed on departure from Catalina Airport last month, killing all five people aboard, ignored a warning from the island airport manager that the flight would be unapproved due to darkness, according to a preliminary report released by the National Transportation Safety Board.
The twin-engine Beechcraft 95-B55 crashed shortly after it departed from Catalina Airport in Avalon around 8 p.m. on Oct. 8, according to the NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration.
The aircraft went down about a mile west of the airport.
Killed in the crash were Haris Ali, 33, of Fullerton; Margaret Mary Fenner, 55; Ali Reza Safai, 73, of West Hills; Joeun Park, 37; and Gonzalo Lubel, 34.
According to FAA records, the plane was registered to Safai, who was previously a flight instructor at now-defunct Santa Monica Aviation based at Santa Monica Airport.
Catalina Airport is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and aircraft operations are generally prohibited at all other times because it is not equipped with airfield lighting.
According to the preliminary NTSB report released Wednesday, on the afternoon of Oct. 8, a flight instructor and two student pilots were preparing to depart Catalina Airport in a rented single-engine plane, but the aircraft experienced a "magneto malfunction during preflight" that prevented the departure. The group contacted the flight school from which the plane had been rented, and were told that another airplane would fly from Santa Monica Airport to Catalina to pick up the group.
That plane, apparently piloted by Safai, an acquaintance of the flight school's owner, departed Santa Monica Airport with one other person aboard around 6 p.m. Oct. 8 and landed at Catalina about 20 minutes later, according to the NTSB report. The manager of Catalina Airport gave permission for the plane to land at the airfield even though the airport was closed at that hour, but he instructed the pilot that the group had to depart before sundown at roughly 6:30 p.m., according to the report.
After landing at Catalina Airport, "the pilots shut down both engines, loaded the stranded pilots, and attempted to restart the engines," according to the NTSB. "During restart the right engine would not start due to insufficient battery power. The occupants exited the airplane, and an extension cord was then attached to an on-board battery charger. The pilots were informed by the airport manager that since the time required to charge the battery would extend beyond sunset that a post-sunset departure would not be approved.
"The pilot/airplane owner informed the airport manager that he had to go and intended to depart anyway," the NTSB preliminary report states. "The airport manager advised him that, while he could not stop him, his departure would be unapproved and at his own risk."
The plane subsequently took off around 8 p.m., and crashed minutes after takeoff.
The NTSB report makes no determination of the exact cause of the crash, which occurred on a ridgeline about a mile west-southwest of the runway.
According to the report, airport security video showed the plane attempting to take off amid "dark night conditions."
"It was not possible to discern in the video if the airplane was airborne or not prior to reaching the end of the runway," according to the report. "As the airplane reached the departure end of the runway it descended out of view of the camera."
The report stated that flight data shows the plane "may have become airborne around midpoint of the runway and maintained a low altitude until reaching the departure end of the runway," after which it made a slight descent and a right turn, and then crashed.
