Update: Preliminary NTSB Report on Maxwell Plane Crash

By: 10/11 News

Updated: Fri 9:36 PM, Jan 25, 2013

On January 11, 2013, about 3:55 p.m.central standard time, N36VE, a Raytheon Aircraft Company 58, multi-engine airplane, was destroyed after impacting terrain near Maxwell, Nebraska.

The pilot and three passengers were fatally injured. The airplane was registered to and operated by Bottorff Construction, Inc., Atchison, Kansas. Instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) prevailed at the time of the accident and an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan had been filed for the 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 business flight.

The airplane departed North Platte Regional Airport (LBF), North Platte, Nebraska, about 3:48 p.m., destined for York Municipal Airport (JYR), York, Nebraska.

At approximately 3:50 p.m., the pilot reported to a radar controller at Denver Air Route Traffic Control Center that he was climbing out of 4,700 feet mean sea level (msl) to a planned cruise altitude of 9,000 feet msl. At 1552 the pilot requested the tops of the clouds; however, a current report on the cloud tops was not available. At 3:53 p.m.,
a "mayday" call was heard and a simultaneous loss of radio and radar contact was reported by the radar controller.

At 6:55 p.m., the wreckage was found in a remote area about 11 miles north east of North Platte Regional Airport by emergency responders who had been searching for the missing airplane.

A review of recorded data from the North Platte Regional Airport automated weather observation station, elevation 2,777 feet msl, revealed that at 1534 the wind was from 350 degrees at 14 knots, visibility 4 miles in mist, ceiling overcast at 1,000 feet above ground level (agl), temperature -2 degrees Celsius (C), dew point -4 degrees C, with an altimeter setting of 29.42 inches of mercury. Remarks indicated that the ceiling was variable from 700 to 1,300 feet agl.

At 3:53 p.m. the data from North Platte Regional Airport revealed that the wind was from 340 degrees at 14 gusting to 20 knots, visibility 3 miles in light freezing rain and mist, ceiling broken at 900 feet agl, overcast clouds at 1,200 feet agl, temperature -2 degrees C, dew point -4 degrees C, with an altimeter setting of 29.45 inches of mercury. Remarks indicated that freezing rain began at 1546, and the ceiling was variable from 600 to 1,100 feet agl.

Courtesy: National Transportation Safety Board

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