Broken Voice Recorder Hampers Pa. Crash Probe

Investigators on Monday were looking into whether fuel problems caused both engines to fail aboard a charter plane that crashed, killing all 19 people aboard. But the probe was hampered because the cockpit voice recorder was not working at the time.

The National Transportation Safety Board investigators searched for clues in the wreckage after Sunday’s crash of the Executive Airlines twin-engine turboprop, which was carrying 17 passengers home from a gambling trip to Atlantic City, N.J.

The two pilots, who also were killed, had reported to air traffic controllers that they lost both engines as they made their second approach to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport in the rain.

Aviation analysts said dual-engine failures are rare and can indicate a problem with the fuel supply.

NTSB member George Black said investigators were “looking at fuel and fuel systems,” including whether the fuel was contaminated.

However, Black said later that no evidence of contamination was found in a preliminary test of the fuel from a truck in Farmingdale, N.Y., that had refueled the plane. The tests were continuing and would include a ground sample from the crash site.

Investigators did not rule out that the plane could have been low on fuel.

Black also said the voice recorder had an improper power supply and did not record any sounds in the cockpit. Plus, the plane did not have the other type of “black box” recorder, the one that takes down flight data such as speed and altitude, because it was not required for the model of airplane, a Jetstream 31.

He said investigators will rely on the wreckage, witnesses, radar data and conversations between the pilots and air traffic controllers.

The plane left Farmingdale on Sunday morning, picked up the passengers about 10:30 a.m. in Atlantic City and then headed to Wilkes-Barre for the one-hour, 150-mile flight.

Peter Hartt, spokesman for the South Jersey Transportation Authority, which operates the Atlantic City Airport, said the aircraft received no fuel or repairs there. The director of the airport in Farmingdale, Hugh Jones, referred all questions about the plane to the NTSB.

John Nance, an aviation analyst in Tacoma, Wash., said one failed engine is a “very rare event.”

“To have two fail simultaneously is simply beyond the realm of probability,” he said. “What will cause two engines to stop running simultaneously is an interruption in the fuel supply. It could be some sort of catastrophic problem with the pumping system or the plumbing of the fuel system.”

Michael Peragine, chief executive of Farmingdale-based Executive Airlines, said the company had never had a problem with the 12-year-old plane.