Co-Pilot Who Survived N.Y. Crash Tells of Checking Wings for Ice

The co-pilot of the USAir jet that crashed in a snowstorm at La Guardia Airport told investigators Wednesday he and the pilot checked the plane’s wings frequently but didn’t see any ice before the fatal takeoff attempt, an official said.

“As he taxied out, he looked back at the wings several times--at least three times, he said it could have been as many as 10--to check for ice,” John Lauber, who heads the National Transportation Safety Board investigation into Sunday’s crash, said at a news conference.

A safety board crew met earlier Wednesday with the co-pilot, John J. Rachuba, 30, of Charlotte, N.C., at a hospital.

Lauber said Rachuba offered no explanation of exactly what caused the plane to crash. He said the last thing Rachuba recalled saying to Capt. Wallace Majure was: “Stay with it, Wally.”

Majure was one of the 27 people who died. The other 24 aboard Flight 405 were injured when the plane crashed at the end of the runway in a ball of fire and broke into pieces in Flushing Bay. Fifteen of the injured remained hospitalized Wednesday.

The safety board was trying to determine, among other things, whether ice accumulation on the wings of the Cleveland-bound plane contributed to the crash.

The twin-engine Fokker F-28 had been de-iced at 8:26 p.m. and again at 8:59. It didn’t take off until about 9:30, which raised the question of whether ice and snow had built up on the wings enough to disrupt takeoff.