Crashed Jet May Have Headed Wrong Way

Investigators are checking to see if the pilot of a small executive jetiner that crashed on Otay Mountain over the weekend turned in the wrong direction after takeoff, a National Transportation Safety Board official said Monday.

All 10 persons aboard were killed. They were eight members of country singer Reba McEntire’s band and the pilot and co-pilot. McEntire had been in San Diego for a private concert. She left on a later plane.

An official at the Brown Field control tower, where the plane made its ill-fated takeoff very early Saturday, also raised the possibility that the jet may have taken off in the wrong direction.

The airport official, who asked not to be identified, said that Capt. Don Holms, pilot of the twin-engined Hawker Siddeley executive jet, was told by the FAA’s flight service to take off to the west, away from the mountain.

Apparently Holms instead took off to the east, the tower official said. Most departures from the airport, situated on the U.S.-Mexico border, are made to the west, toward the Pacific Ocean, he added.

“It would make more sense to take off to the west. Why he took off to the east we don’t know. . . . But even taking off to the east, that plane should have been able to clear the mountain. A witness said he needed a lot of runway to take off. There was no indication of mechanical problem, he just may have been too heavy.

“When (Holms) called the flight service for a weather briefing, the pilot was advised to take off to the west. . . . It looks like he was trying to save a couple of minutes by flying east,” the Brown Field official said. The plane was on its way to Amarillo, Tex.

NTSB investigator Richard Childress said the agency is checking to see if Holms turned in the wrong direction when he departed the airport.

“We’re looking at that and other factors, comparing them to the plane’s route of flight.” Childress said it was “too early for me to tell you” that the pilot in fact made a wrong turn.

Childress also said the doomed jet only missed clearing the ridge it hit by about 172 feet. Otay Mountain is 3,572 feet at its highest point.

A pilot familiar with the British-made jet said the plane reaches a top speed of about 250 knots at takeoff at or near sea level. According to the pilot, the rate of climb at that speed is 3,000 to 4,000 feet a minute.

Childress said the plane took off about 1:43 a.m. Saturday and “was airborne for about three minutes or less.” Eight members of McEntire’s band, including the band’s road manager were on board. The other victims were pilot Holms and co-pilot Chris Hollinger.

McEntire flew out of Brown Field in another plane later Saturday. She had performed with the band at a private party for IBM executives Friday night.

The plane that crashed was chartered by Prestige Touring of Dallas, Tex., and was owned by Duncan Aircraft Sales of Venice, Fla. Joe Duncan said that Holms had worked for him for three years and was “a very experienced pilot.”

Duncan said he didn’t know if Holms had ever flown in and out of Brown Field, which is bordered by mountains east and northeast of the runway.

Hollinger emerged as a mystery figure Monday. Duncan said that Hollinger did not work for him and was not on the plane when Holms flew it from Florida to Nashville, where McEntire’s band boarded. Wayne Woolsey, a pilot employed by Prestige Touring, accompanied Holms on the flight from Florida to Nashville, Duncan said.

“I don’t know who Hollinger is, and I don’t know where or why he replaced Woolsey,” Duncan said.

Although Duncan said that Hollinger was employed by Prestige, an official familiar with the Dallas firm said that Hollinger was also a mystery to the company’s officials. Prestige officials have declined to comment about the crash.

Los Angeles attorney John Mason, who represents McEntire, said the singer’s company, Reba’s Business Inc., is also attempting to learn more about both pilots. McEntire’s company has a long-term leasing agreement with Prestige, Mason said.

Meanwhile, the San Diego County medical examiner’s office said that pathologists have begun routine toxicology tests on the remains of Holms and Hollinger. Investigator Charles Kelley said pathologists will also check Holms for any signs of heart attack “if any vital organs are recovered.”