Pilot Not Told He Followed 757 : Crash: But investigators also reveal that air traffic controllers twice warned private jet it was going too fast in moments before it plunged to earth in Santa Ana.

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

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

Investigators said Barkin was still going too fast when the crash occurred, but they also said he may not have been aware of the extent of the danger ahead because he was never told about the 757.

As recently as September, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a warning to air traffic controllers about the potentially dangerous turbulence caused by 757s. Yet controllers at the John Wayne Airport tower and the Coast Terminal Radar Control in El Toro said they were not required to alert Barkin that he was tailing a 757.

Jeff Thorstenson, manager at the John Wayne Airport traffic control tower, said his staff is aware of the 757 hazards. But asked why a notice was not issued to Barkin about the problems he might encounter from the 757, Thorstenson said: “It’s a very good question. And, quite frankly, it’s probably the issue in this accident.”

National Transportation Safety Board officer Don Llorente, who is investigating the crash, said Barkin was flying too fast and he was below the jet when he should have been higher to avoid possible turbulence. But Llorente said the unusually heavy turbulence created by the 757 may also have been a factor.

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

Because of this accident and a similar one a year ago in Billings, Mont., Llorente said Monday that the NTSB within a week will make an “urgent” recommendation to the FAA that 757s be treated like 747s and other jumbo jets when it comes to flying precautions.

Llorente declined to elaborate, but other sources said the recommendation likely would mean that planes stay five miles behind 757s instead of the current three miles, and that air traffic controllers be required to give “heavy turbulence warnings” to pilots flying in the wake of 757s.

By FAA regulation, air traffic controllers are already required to give such turbulence warnings to pilots flying behind 747s and other jumbo jets, and the 757’s “turbulence wake is equivalent to a 747,” Llorente said.

“I didn’t know the severity” of the 757’s turbulence wake “until this accident,” Llorente said. “There’s a lot to be concerned with.”

John Wayne Airport is home to 1,200 arrivals and departures each day, about 240 of which are commercial carriers. Of those, about 85 to 100 a day are 757s, Thorstenson said.

Peter Murray, a commercial airline pilot for 28 years who lives in Huntington Beach, said the 757 is one of the greatest threats in the sky to small aircraft.

“It will make you roll and that’s exactly what the Westwind (jet) did,” he said. “Picture horizontal tornadoes coming right off the wingtips and that’s what you had out there. It will just jolt you.

“I’m more concerned about being behind a 757 than any other plane. I think there has to be a change.”

NTSB investigators believe the 12-seat corporate jet became hopelessly entangled in the 757’s wake last Wednesday, causing it to nose-dive next to the Santa Ana Auto Mall, killing five people aboard, including two executives from the In-N-Out Burger chain.

The Westwind departed Wednesday afternoon from Brackett Field in La Verne after making several stops around the state. Twelve miles out of John Wayne Airport, the pilot requested--and was granted--permission to change to visual flight rules from Coast Terminal Radar Control in El Toro.

Traffic controllers at Coast TRACON informed the Westwind that it would be following a Boeing jet into John Wayne but made no specific 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 eight to 10 miles away from the airport--to slow down, as it was gaining on the traffic up ahead.

Five miles from landing, a controller made a second warning, saying it was flying 30 knots faster than the commercial 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. The recommended distance is three miles.

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

Last week’s crash and two similar ones likely will result in some changes in air traffic control procedures, Llorente said.

A year ago, a Cessna Citation 550 crashed after crossing the wake of a 757 in Billings, Mont. Eight people were killed.

At a minimum, Llorente said, the FAA should spread the word about the 757’s turbulence problem.

“If the FAA knew that the 757 was like a 747 and created a hell of a vortex, why didn’t they let people know about it?” Llorente said.

At the same time, Llorente said Barkin, the pilot, should have stayed above the flight path of the jet regardless of what size and class it was.

“He had to be catching up with that aircraft,” Llorente said. “He had to see that.”

Don Miller, regional representative for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assn., agreed, saying he frequently solicits--and is always given--information about the make of commercial airliners by air traffic controllers at John Wayne Airport.

“I frequently complain about the FAA, but I must say that this particular tower bends over backward to being efficient and helpful to pilots,” Miller said. “They are always courteous.”

Yet, Joe McGuire, a friend of Barkin’s and a pilot for 30 years, said: “You need to have every piece of information when you’re in a plane.

“There’s so much to assimilate and things happen in the air so fast that knowing (about the 757) may have helped.”