Pilot Dies in Crash at Fogged-In Airport

A twin-engine airplane crashed early Thursday morning at Van Nuys Airport in fog so thick the accident--and the dead pilot--were not discovered until more than four hours later, authorities said.

An airport police officer found the crumpled Cessna 310 containing the body of pilot Robert A. Olson, 32, of Medford, Ore., at 5:38 a.m. Olson apparently missed two runways and crashed into six parked planes at about 1:20 a.m., officials said.

City fire officials said it was not immediately apparent if the pilot died instantly in the crash or later from his injuries. The cause of death is expected to be determined following an examination by the county coroner.

Olson was the last pilot to land that night at the fog-shrouded airport. Several planes had landed safely minutes earlier and others departed after the crash.

A city Department of Airports police officer noted that at 1:18 a.m., Olson reported over a radio frequency that he was about to land at Van Nuys. The control tower was closed for the night, although pilots routinely land and depart from general aviation airports on their own.

At about 1:20 a.m. the officer, who was standing at the northwest corner of the 730-acre airport, saw the plane fly past for landing and recorded its identification number.

Within seconds, the plane was lost in the fog, and visibility dropped to almost zero, said airport spokeswoman Stacy Geere. The officer did not see or hear a crash and presumed the pilot had landed safely about a half a mile away, Geere said.

The plane, which was carrying express packages, had flown out of Las Vegas at about midnight Thursday and was scheduled to land at Burbank Airport, said Gale Webb, president of AEX Inc. of Tempe, Ariz., the plane’s owner.

Webb said Olson was “a highly experienced pilot, very professional” who had been with the small company for only about one month. He said Olson was single and had no children.

The 9-year-old company, which provides express mail service between California, Nevada and Arizona using two planes, has had no other accidents, Webb said. He said he was surprised to learn that Olson tried to land at Van Nuys after Burbank had been closed because of the fog.

Webb said Olson should have flown to an airfield outside of the foggy San Fernando Valley, such as Fox Field in Lancaster, which was clear.

Mitch Barker, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said the pilot told air traffic controllers in San Diego that he could see Van Nuys Airport well enough to land there. The pilot “reported he had Van Nuys Airport in sight,” Barker said. “There was no further contact after that.”

It was not clear whether Olson decided to land at Van Nuys on his own or was directed there by FAA controllers who monitor and advise pilots on weather and air traffic conditions from stations in Burbank and San Diego.

FAA officials and investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board declined to discuss details pending an investigation.

The air control tower at Van Nuys is unmanned from 10:45 p.m. to 5:45 a.m., when noise restrictions adopted in 1981 prohibit certain types of flights. However, pilots can land at the airport at any time, a standard procedure at U.S. airports, FAA officials said.

After the tower closes, it becomes the responsibility of Los Angeles airport police to log the identification numbers of aircraft using the runway--primarily to enforce the airport’s noise-abatement program. They are also responsible for patrolling airport grounds, but not in prescribed intervals.

That night, the officers did not conduct patrols of the airport grounds until 5 a.m. because fog confined them to the one spot where they could read the identification numbers of incoming planes, airport officials said.

Airport Manager Ron Kochevar said the fog created another reason for the officers to postpone their normal patrols. “They can’t see anything,” he said. “They just become a hazard driving around out there.”

One of the two officers on duty was inside an administration building to answer telephones and monitor radio frequencies used by pilots, airport officials said. The second officer had parked his patrol car at the northwest corner leading to the main runway to record aircraft traffic.

At 1:20 a.m., the officer spotted aircraft No. 8046M.

It was the last plane to arrive that night, although other aircraft continued to take off from Van Nuys, according to airport logs. One plane departed 12 minutes after the Cessna apparently crashed.

Airport and transportation officials said they do not know if the plane crashed immediately after disappearing from the officer’s sight, or if the pilot tried to regain altitude and try another landing. In addition to examining the wreckage, investigators are listening to audio tape recordings of radio traffic transmissions between pilots and the FAA.

One of the officers on duty discovered the wreckage in a southeast area of the airfield at about 5:38 a.m.

The plane’s canopy was sheared off, its tail pointing skyward, amid a collection of other bent and twisted single- and twin-engine aircraft.

Police cordoned off the crash area with yellow tape strung from the wing of one undamaged plane to the engine of another.

As curious pilots and other airport workers looked on, investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA combed through the wreckage.

Several veteran pilots speculated that the aircraft’s propellers were turning when it nosed into the asphalt because all the blades were bent backward. If the engine was stalled at the time of the crash, they said, it would be likely that at least some of the blades on the propellers would have been intact.

At Clay Lacy Aviation, located a few hundred feet from the crash, workers were on the job at the time of the crash, but “no one heard a thing,” said one employee.

Don Schultz, president of the Van Nuys Homeowners Assn. and a member of an airport citizens’ advisory committee, said the crash underscores the need to keep the control tower at Van Nuys, the nation’s largest general aviation airport, operating 24 hours a day. Homeowners have long argued that more controllers on the job would discourage pilots from violating curfew and noise rules.

“This accident might have been avoided if we had had an open tower that could have warned the pilot of dangerous conditions,” Schultz said.

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Fogged In

A small plane that crashed at Van Nuys Airport early Thursday had been headed for Burbank Airport but was redirected to Van Nuys because of heavy fog. Although visibility at Van Nuys was suddenly reduced to zero when the plane crashed at 1:20 a.m., fog also shrouded other regional airports, except for the airport in Lancaster.

Burbank Airport: 1/16-mile visibility at 1 a.m.

Fox Field in Lancaster: 25-mile visibility at 1 a.m.

Camarillo Airport: zero visibility at midnight

Los Angeles International: 1/2-mile visibility at 1 a.m.

Long Beach Airport: 1 3/4-miles visibility at midnight

Source: individual airports, National Weather Service

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Crash in the Fog

a pilot was killed early Thursday when he tried landing his twin- engine Cessna at Van Nuys Airport in dense fog. Although the crash occurred at about 1:30 a.m., the victim was not found until 5:45 a.m. His destination was Burbank Airport, but it was closed due to the fog. Shown below is how it happened, with approximate times.

*

1. At 1:18 a.m., pilot announces his intention to land. Since the control tower closed at 11 p.m., security guards log radio communication and landings.

2. At 1:20, security guard observes plane aproaching airport’s main runway. At this point heavy fog has reduced visibility to only feet.

3. Plane misses both main runway and training runway, crash lands on taxiway, skidding 600 (?) feet onto tarmac area, slamming into six parked planes.

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Cessna 310

* Length: 13 ft., 11 in.

* Wingspan: 36ft., 11 in.

* Height: 10 ft., 8 in.

* Maximum speed: 238 mph

* Range: 1,440 nautical miles (?)

Source: Staff reports, Jane’s Aircraft Recognition Guide