No Turbulence Warning Given in Fatal Crash : Aviation: Controllers did not tell pilot of private jet that plane he followed was a Boeing 757, despite FAA alert that it causes heavy wake. But they did caution twice that he was too close behind.

The pilot of a private jet that crashed last week, killing all five people on board, was never told that the plane he was following was a Boeing 757, even though federal officials said Monday the plane has been found to cause unusually heavy turbulence and requires special procedures.

At the same time, investigators revealed, pilot Stephen Barkin was warned twice to slow down because he was following too closely behind a commercial airliner.

The lack of a warning about the Boeing 757 came despite an alert issued recently by the Federal Aviation Administration telling air traffic controllers that the craft creates much more air turbulence than other planes its size.

“They didn’t tell him,” National Transportation Safety Board investigator Don Llorente said. “I’m not saying they shouldn’t have, but they didn’t.”

Air traffic controllers at the John Wayne Airport tower and the Coast Terminal Radar Control in El Toro said the rules did not require that they alert Barkin, pilot of the twin-engine Westwind, that he was following a Boeing 757.

But asked why notice was not given to the Westwind pilot, Jeff Thorstenson, manager at the John Wayne Airport traffic control tower, said: “It’s a very good question. And, quite frankly, it’s probably the issue in this accident.”

Officials said the controllers who dealt with the planes are not under investigation. Boeing officials were unavailable for comment Monday.

Safety board investigators believe the 12-seat corporate jet became hopelessly caught in the 757’s wake last Wednesday and nose-dived into the ground near the Santa Ana Auto Mall. There were no survivors and two executives from the In-N-Out Burger chain were among the five people killed.

Because of the Santa Ana crash findings and a similar incident a year ago in Billings, Mont., Llorente said Monday that he plans to issue “an urgent safety recommendation” to treat 757s as “heavy” jets.

Aviation sources said the recommendation probably would mean that planes must stay five or more miles behind Boeing 757s instead of the current three miles, and that air traffic controllers give “heavy turbulence warnings” to pilots flying in the wake of Boeing 757s.

In addition, officials said it is likely that pilots will receive more intensive training involving wake turbulence.

Investigators say the Westwind was barely two miles behind the United 757 as they both prepared to land at John Wayne Airport.

By law, air traffic controllers are required to give such turbulence warnings to pilots flying behind 747s, and Llorente said the Boeing 757’s “turbulence wake is equivalent to a 747.”

Although the Westwind pilot was not warned about the 757, investigators said Monday that he was told at least twice that his plane was too close to the airliner and that it was overtaking the larger plane.

Traffic controllers at Coast Terminal Radar Control informed the Westwind that it would be following a Boeing jet into John Wayne but made no mention that the aircraft was a 757.

Once the Westwind began following the Boeing jet, it was turned over to the John Wayne Airport control tower. Air traffic controllers there warned the Westwind--about 10 miles away from the airport--to slow down.

Five miles from landing, a controller gave a second warning, saying the plane was flying 30 knots faster than the airliner.

“The pilot was told two or three times to slow his speed,” Llorente said.

When the crash occurred, Llorente said, the Westwind was 2.1 miles away from the 757.

Aviation officials said it was Barkin’s responsibility to maintain the proper distance, and radar recordings show that the Westwind dipped about 200 feet below the larger plane’s flight path, which could have trapped it in a tornado-like wake.