Was Pilot or Reporter Flying Plane That Crashed? : Air Safety: The unlicensed traffic reporter may have been at controls before fatal plunge near freeway, U.S. investigators say.

Federal investigators revealed Monday that a San Diego traffic reporter--and not the pilot--might have been at the controls of a light plane that crashed into a freeway embankment in Solana Beach last month, killing both men and narrowly missing rush-hour traffic.

George Petterson, an investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board in Los Angeles, said pilot Douglas Hayden on several occasions had allowed reporter Howard Glenn Kreisler to take control of the single-engine plane, even though Hayden was not a certified instructor.

The plane crashed Nov. 1 just off busy Interstate 5 during the morning rush hour, killing both men.

“Either person could have been flying that plane,” Petterson said. The pilot and the reporter were good friends, so he (Hayden) could have been allowing him to get some flying time in between reports--it was something that would have been between them.

“Right now, though, I’d say it was a toss-up as to who was . . . at the controls when the plane went down. There’s a 50-50 chance it was the reporter in control. He was more or less a beginning student who didn’t even have a valid student’s license. It’s a gray area that we’re trying to figure out.”

Petterson said investigators are awaiting the results of several tests--including an autopsy.

He said that, by studying fractures in both the pilot’s and passenger’s broken wrists, it is possible to determine who was clutching the controls at impact.

The test results are expected in several weeks, Petterson said.

Furthermore, investigators say that Metro Traffic Control--who had employed Kreisler for 14 months before the mishap--might have known that Kreisler was occasionally taking over control of the planes.

“The people at Metro Traffic allowed that to take place when the pair was heading from one point to another,” Petterson said. “It was supposedly during their down-time--between traffic reports.”

Metro Traffic, however, denied that claim, saying that, although Kreisler had made ambitious inquiries about learning to fly, he had been told flatly to take such lessons on his own time--not during flights for his daily radio and television traffic reports.

Rhonda Kramer, regional director for Metro Traffic operations in Los Angeles, said the company operates in 37 cities nationwide and that the subject of its reporters learning to fly comes up at every meeting.

“We have explicit rules against it,” she said. “With us, safety always come first. If Howard Kreisler was indeed flying that plane, I wish I would have known about it.”

As the story unfolded Monday, there was conflicting information as to exactly how much latitude Kreisler had been given to take control of the plane during his reporting flights.

Monica Zech, Metro Traffic Control’s director of operations in San Diego, said Kreisler had asked her about taking lessons with California Wings, a Montgomery Field aircraft rental company whose pilots are contracted to fly with Metro Traffic reporters.

Kreisler, 29, had logged some flight hours in Texas with a student’s license in 1979 but had since lost interest and did not have a current license, authorities said.

“He was told that as long as he was flying with us, he was going to do traffic reports,” Zech said. “He was supposed to be there to help be the eyes and ears for the pilot--and do his traffic reports--not fly the plane.

“I told him that, if he wanted to take lessons with California Wings, he was free to do it on his own time--not ours. And Howard said, ‘Oh no, not me. I wouldn’t do that.’ ”

Later, however, Zech said that Kreisler did indeed have some latitude to take control of the plane while in flight--but only long enough to gain rudimentary knowledge of the plane’s workings in a possible emergency.

“How long would that take--five minutes?” she said. “We had faith in Howard that he was following our procedures. If he was flying those planes, he was doing it behind our backs.”

Dave Butler, general manager of California Wings, said that Kreisler had asked to be allowed to occasionally take control of the plane as he flew with any one of half a dozen California Wings pilots who transported Metro Traffic reporters.

“We talked about it,” Butler said. “He said he was interested in taking over from time to time when they were going to and from story locations and said that it wouldn’t interfere with his job.”

Butler said he spoke with Metro Traffic officials, who said it was OK, as long as it was cleared with the pilot of the plane. “I talked with them directly. We wanted to make sure it was OK with his employer first,” Butler said.

Later in the day, however, Butler called The Times to say that Kreisler had been cleared by the company to fly the plane only long enough to learn about emergency operation of the craft.

“Howard told me he had total clearance to fly, which sounded strange to me, so I called Monica Zech at Metro,” Butler said during the second conversation. “After that conversation, we were clear with Howard that his instruction was only for emergency purposes.

“We told him that our pilots, people like Doug Hayden, weren’t up there giving lessons while they were doing their jobs.”

He said Kreisler had previously taken flying lessons with California Wings on his own time, but that his training only amounted to “8 or 9 hours.”

Butler acknowledged that the 30-year-old Hayden did not have his instructor’s rating in any event.

“He was probably weeks away,” he said. “He had 1,200 hours as a pilot. He just never got the certification. It wasn’t a priority with him.”

Fred O’Donnell, a spokesman with the Federal Aviation Administration in Los Angeles, said pilots can allow untrained passengers to take control of their aircraft and not violate agency regulations.

“But there’s provision 91.9 that guards against careless and reckless operation of an aircraft,” he said. “There’s a possibility that provision could be applicable in this situation.”

Kreisler and Hayden--a former Air Force officer--were covering a minor freeway accident just north of the Via de la Valle exit during morning rush hour when the plane suddenly went out of control.

Eyewitnesses say the engine of the 1979 Grumman two-seater sputtered and died moments before the craft went into a steep bank and slammed into the ground nose-first at 100 m.p.h.--narrowly missing hundreds of rush-hour commuters as well as several nearby homes.

Both men were killed on impact and several witnesses said the craft was so badly damaged that it was difficult to recognize it as an airplane.

NTSB investigator Petterson said officials are looking into the possibility that the plane ran into a cluster of airborne party balloons moments before impact.

“There’s still the possibility that the balloons spooked them, and they made an abrupt maneuver before the crash,” Petterson said. “Either one could have been at the controls. If the student was flying the plane, the pilot could have tried to correct what he was doing.

“Right now, we’re not sure. But something put that plane out of control.”

Metro Traffic officials said Monday, however, that any one of many scenarios may have led to the crash.

“The pilot could have been in control all along,” Kramer said. “The pilot could have put his hands up to cover his face and Howard could have grabbed the wheel.

“Anything could have happened. Maybe it’s something we’re never going to find out.”