Report: Crash Caused By Pilot Flying Too Low

[livvy]

Report: Crash Caused By Pilot Flying Too Low

By Bruce Rolfsen - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Jan 3, 2009 8:03:41 EST

A lieutenant colonel who died in the crash of the small private plane he was piloting, apparently tried to fly over a cloud-covered mountain pass at night when the plane hit the ground, a National Transportation Safety Board investigation found.

Lt. Col. Raymond Roessler of the 309th Maintenance Wing, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, was alone in the single-engine Piper PA-28 when the plane crashed Oct. 5, 2007, in Cajon Pass, a gap in the San Bernardino Mountains separating the Los Angeles area from the desert communities of Victorville and Barstow.

Investigators found no significant mechanical problems with the 43-year-old Piper, the report said.

Roessler took off from Long Beach, Calif., airport shortly after midnight and was flying to Henderson, Nev., using visual flight rules, the report said.

As the flight started, Roessler told air traffic controllers he would climb to 9,500 feet once he was beyond the cloud cover. But the cloud cover did not break and as Roessler neared the 4,000-plus foot pass, he was flying too low.

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http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2009/01/airforce_accident_report_010309/%2e

[kanrok]

1. You fly low enough

you're gonna crash.