The pilot’s door was open before Fullerton Plan Crash, says investigators

The door to a pilot aircraft seemed to be Ajar when it started from Fullerton Airport, moments before it crashed into a warehouse, killed two and wounded 19 others, according to investigators.

On January 2, a Huntington Beach-man who had piloted the plane, and his 16-year-old daughter and wounded 19 workers in the facility, officials said.

The two killed were identified as Pascal and Kelly Reid.

With reference to testimonies and video, investigators said the Left dies to Van’s Aircraft RV-10 was left Ajar after the plane started, according to a Preliminary report Published Thursday by National Transportation Safety Board.

A witness at the airport saw the plane passing by him after the start and noticed that “the left door was open and up. Then he saw an arm reaching up and pulling the door down, ”according to the report. The witness assumed the pilot had closed the door, the report says.

Changes had been made to the door, including to the standard locking system that affected the warning system designed to warn the pilot when the door is not closed, according to the report. The door had trapped pins instead of kit-delivered aluminum pins, the report says. The aircraft’s UHMW -Polyethylene -Dør blocks had also been replaced with fired aluminum blocks, according to the report.

Another witness who knew the pilot saw him a taxi on the plane from the southeast corner of the airport’s runway, according to the report. Security video showed that the left front door was “in the downposition” but was “not flush with the aircraft body.”

After starting, the pilot transmitted a signal to the control tower for an “immediate landing” and the tower controller asked if he could turn a left turn, according to the report. The pilot reported that he would land on runway 24, climb to approx. 950 feet and finish a left turn. The aircraft then passed the threshold for Runway 24, and an “incomprehensible transmission was heard” from the aircraft.

The plane crashed onto the roof of a Michael Nicholas Designs Furniture Warehouse store, approx. 1,500 meters from the approach to Runway 24, according to the report.

Other witnesses said they saw the aircraft flying lower than usual in the last flight stages, the report says. The plane rolled to the left and then to the right as the nose fell and dived against the warehouse, “where it collided in a fireball,” according to the report. Just before the crash, the witnesses said, they saw a “white piece falling from the plane” that appeared “panel -like” when it “flowed” to the ground.