Pilot Died in Minutes After Crash

An Oregon pilot died on impact or within minutes after his plane crashed on a foggy night at Van Nuys Airport, the coroner’s office concluded Monday, eliminating the possibility that he remained alive while the wreckage went undiscovered for four hours.

The preliminary autopsy report indicated there was little chance that Robert A. Olson might have been saved Thursday had officials found his downed plane earlier, but does not resolve questions about closing down Van Nuys Airport’s control tower at night.

Olson, 32, of Medford, Ore., flying a light cargo plane from Las Vegas to Burbank Airport, diverted to Van Nuys Airport due to fog at Burbank, but investigators said that for some reason his Cessna 310 was off course upon landing, hitting a taxiway 525 feet east of the runway.

The plane smashed into the ground, nose and right wing first, then skidded 700 to 800 feet into a cluster of parked aircraft, said Wayne Pollack, air safety investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board.

While the preliminary investigation is continuing, and it would be premature to draw conclusions, Pollack said, tire marks along the skid path, applied fairly symmetrically, may indicate the pilot was vainly trying to brake the aircraft before it smashed into the parked planes, partially shearing off a wing and the cockpit cover.

The two main fuel tanks on the twin-engine aircraft ruptured and spilled with the impact, but there was no fire, Pollack said. Two auxiliary tanks were each half full, more than sufficient for the pilot to have flown to another airport if he had felt that necessary, he said.

The plane was carrying over 200 pounds of bank checks and related material.

A preliminary autopsy attributed Olson’s death to “multiple blunt force injuries.” Coroner’s spokesman Scott Carrier said the injuries would have caused death almost immediately. However, the official time of death has not yet been determined. Final results are also being withheld until toxicology tests are complete, probably within two weeks.

Investigators were expected to review today tape recordings and other data from air traffic controllers to determine how Olson was diverted to Van Nuys from Burbank. However, officials said Olson was given clearance by air controllers in San Diego to navigate by instruments to land at Van Nuys after the pilot said he could see that airport, said FAA spokesman Tim Pile.

The air controllers “were shocked when they found out the guy crashed at Van Nuys because everything was pretty routine,” Pile said, although he called the fast-moving fog, which obscured visibility to near-zero at the two Valley airports, “definitely not typical.”

The fog bank was described by a National Weather Service meteorologist as moving very quickly into Burbank Airport about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday. The airport was shut down to all air traffic shortly afterward, with other, private aircraft diverted to Van Nuys.

Airport officials and pilots reported that the heavy fog bank rolled into Van Nuys just as Olson attempted to land at 1:20 a.m. The plane, spotted by an airport police officer, appeared to be approximately on course as it approached the runway, then disappeared into the fog before landing, investigators said.

No one heard or saw the crash and the wreckage was not discovered until 5:38 a.m., after the fog began to lift, said airport spokeswoman Stacey Geere.

The control tower at Van Nuys, which has no commercial airline service, closes nightly at 10:45 p.m. Since the tower reports weather conditions, the final report issued at 10 p.m. on the night of the fatal crash indicated visibility was relatively clear at three miles.

Even though the tower is closed, the airport remains open to flights by planes which do not exceed its nightly curfew noise limits. Neighboring homeowners argue that the tower should be open around the clock to better control noise violations and to give greater safety, such as updated weather reports, to pilots. The FAA has said there are too few night operations at the field to justify the expense of an all-night tower crew.

Airport Manager Ronald Kochever said he has asked the FAA to reopen the tower at 5:30 a.m. daily, about half an hour earlier than the present schedule, to handle the volume of air traffic at Van Nuys, the world’s busiest general aviation airport.

Point of Impact

A Cessna 310 that crashed at Van Nuys Airport was several hundred feet off course from its intended landing point, according to investigators.

1. Point of Cessna’s impact was 525 feet east of main runway.

2. Cessna skids 700 to 800 feet southeast from point of impact

3. Plane comes to rest after crashing into parked planes.

Source: National Transportation Safety Board