Icing May Be Cause in Wellstone Crash
Federal investigators believe icing may be a cause of the plane crash that killed Sen. Paul Wellstone and seven others after determining that the engines and propellers were working properly.
The National Transportation Safety Board issued a progress report Tuesday as part of its investigation into why the chartered King Air A100 plane crashed and burned about 2 1/2 miles from the Eveleth-Virginia Municipal Airport in Minnesota on Oct. 25.
The two Pratt & Whitney engines and propellers made by Hartzell were examined and “no evidence of pre-impact engine or propeller failure was found,” the report said.
NTSB investigators continued looking at other possible causes, including bad weather, inaccurate navigational aids and human error, fatigue or disorientation.
Wellstone, a Democrat from Minnesota, was headed to the funeral of a state representative’s father when the plane crashed in freezing rain and light snow. Wellstone’s wife, Sheila, their 33-year-old daughter, Marcia Wellstone Markuson, and five others were killed.
The NTSB said specialists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., are working with the safety board to determine the icing conditions that existed along the flight’s route.
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