Sunday, February 8, 2009

New York and Region

First Findings See No Brakes Used in Most Of Jet's Path

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Published: February 4, 2005

The National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash of a corporate jet at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey on Wednesday, said yesterday that its findings indicated no braking system was in effect until the plane was 5,000 feet along the 6,013-foot runway. Normally, a liftoff takes place around 3,000 feet.

Officials could not say whether the pilots attempted to stop the plane earlier, or whether there had been a mechanical problem.

Earlier yesterday, a lawyer for the pilot said that his client had made a valiant effort to stop the plane when he realized that a mechanical problem would prevent it from lifting off.

Michael A. Moulis, a lawyer for Platinum Jet Management, the company that was operating the plane when it rammed into a warehouse on Wednesday morning, said the pilot, John Kimberling, told him that ''something broke'' as the plane roared toward the end of the runway. As the jet skidded across six lanes of Route 46, a main thoroughfare at the northern end of the airport, Mr. Kimberling and his co-pilot tried to guide it through a break in traffic, Mr. Moulis said the pilot told him.

''He said, 'I think I clipped one,''' meaning a car, Mr. Moulis recounted from Teterboro, where he was meeting with investigators for the safety board. He declined to say what he and Mr. Kimberling thought had malfunctioned, because he said he did not want to interfere with the investigation.

But Mr. Moulis, who said he was representing Mr. Kimberling and Platinum Jet, said he believed that the investigation would rule out pilot error or ice on the wings as a cause of the crash.

Witnesses told investigators that there was no ice on the wings.

In addition to the findings about the skid marks, Debbie Hersman, a spokeswoman for the safety board, said that a flight data recorder had captured only 10 seconds of the 43 seconds that elapsed between the start of the plane engine's acceleration and the crash. ''It's not exactly what we were looking for,'' Ms. Hersman said. ''But we're hopeful that we can get more information from it.''

The cockpit voice recorder, which is still being analyzed, indicated that there had been a decision to discontinue the takeoff, the authorities have said. Ms. Hersman said that the jet's reverse thrusters, which are part of the braking system along with conventional brakes, had deployed but that it was unclear whether the brakes had.

Saying a catastrophe had been narrowly avoided, Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey and United States Representative Steven Rothman said they would petition the Federal Aviation Administration to adopt further restrictions on the number and types of flights from Teterboro.

In Wednesday's crash, the plane ripped the roof off one car, a Toyota sedan, seriously wounding its driver and a passenger before smashing through the brick facade of a warehouse across the highway. But none of the eight passengers, a group of financial executives, were seriously hurt, and Mr. Kimberling and the co-pilot, Carlos W. Salaverria, escaped with broken bones in their legs.

Mr. Moulis said that Mr. Kimberling's feet ''were injured because he was jamming on the brake so hard.''

Both pilots, who had not yet been interviewed by investigators, spent Wednesday night at Hackensack University Medical Center. The third member of their crew, a 22-year-old cabin aide, Angelica Calad, had only scrapes and bruises, said Patrick Rivers, operations manager of the Voodoo Lounge in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where Ms. Calad works part time as a hostess.

After the crash, Mr. Rivers said, Ms. Calad called the club from an undisclosed location where she is being questioned by investigators to tell co-workers of her harrowing experience. She said she was strapped into the jump seat near the cockpit of the small plane when the ride turned ''a little bumpy,'' Mr. Rivers said.

''The next thing she knew she was in a warehouse,'' he said.

Mr. Moulis told a more heroic tale about Ms. Calad, who, like the two pilots, was working for Platinum Jet, a charter company based in Fort Lauderdale, on a freelance basis. Despite being soaked in jet fuel and fearing that the plane would explode, she instructed the passengers to help her kick open the main cabin door, then helped them jump out of the smoking wreck, he said.