Pilot Told Visibility OK Minutes Before Crash

An air traffic controller told a pilot 10 minutes before he crashed in heavy fog at Van Nuys Airport that other pilots had reported relatively clear visibility, according to a preliminary report by accident investigators.

Pilot Robert A. Olson died when his small cargo plane missed the approach to the runway, nosed into a taxiway 525 feet off target, then slid into a cluster of parked airplanes. The wreckage and the pilot’s body were discovered four hours later.

The preliminary report by investigators said several people reported an erratic fog bank encroaching on the airport and that visibility varied between near zero and one mile.

The report also noted that a radar controller in San Diego told Olson that two other planes at the airport minutes before the crash indicated reasonably clear visibility. The last message from the pilot to the controller was that he “has the airport in sight.”

A coroner’s spokesman said Monday that final results of an autopsy found no indication of drugs or alcohol, or any medical reason to explain why the pilot was so far off course upon landing. The wreckage was not discovered for hours after the 1:19 a.m. crash Nov. 14 because no one checked to verify if the pilot had landed safely and because fog shrouded the accident scene, officials said.

However, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office has said that the pilot died on impact or within minutes.

The twin-engine Cessna 310, operated by AEX Air, a cargo express service based in Mesa, Ariz., was carrying 224 pounds of bank checks, investigators said. The 32-year-old pilot from Medford, Ore., departed Las Vegas three minutes before midnight and was due to land at Burbank Airport. “The weather conditions at Burbank deteriorated and the pilot diverted to Van Nuys,” the report said.

An airport police officer standing at the north end of the Van Nuys runway marked the plane’s arrival as it flew in, but said it disappeared into the fog before he could see it touch down. The officer and others, including workers in a building near the crash site, said they did not see or hear the crash. Fuel spilled from the wreckage, but there was no fire.

The airport control tower, which oversees flights at the busy field during the day, was closed at the time of the crash, as it is every night. Some residents and airport critics argue that the control tower should be staffed by the Federal Aviation Administration around the clock, even though a curfew limits nighttime operations to quiet aircraft.

Burbank Airport also has a night curfew, but because the airport is used for commercial flights, it has a 24-hour staff of FAA controllers who issue regular reports on weather conditions. Similar reports on weather cease at Van Nuys Airport when the tower closes. Ironically, pilots and other aviation officials said the heavy fog at Burbank had begun to lift there shortly before it rolled into Van Nuys at the time of the fatal crash.

With 526,000 takeoffs and landings last year, the 730-acre Van Nuys Airport is the busiest general aviation airfield in the nation. However, it averages only 16 flights during the night, has no commercial airline service and therefore does not warrant 24-hour staffing, FAA officials say.

Meanwhile, owners of the company operating the air cargo service said their investigation has determined that the pilot followed proper procedures and regulations during the ill-fated flight. “We have discovered no shortcomings on our part,” said Gale Webb, AEX president.