The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released its preliminary investigation results regarding a fatal plane crash in Ohio County that claimed two local lives.
The single-engine Piper PA-28-161 aircraft contained an Eagle Flight Academy flight instructor, Timothy “Junior” McKellar, 22, of Custer, and a student pilot, Connor W. Quisenberry, 18, of Beaver Dam. The flight lifted off from Bowling Green-Warren County Regional Airport at approximately 9:55 p.m. en route to Owensboro-Daviess County Airport “on a visual flight rules (VFR) flight plan,” the NTSB said.
(VFR are a set of regulations under which a pilot operates an aircraft in weather conditions generally clear enough to allow the pilot to see where the aircraft is going.)
Knight said his study of weather data from the evening of the accident showed isolated storm cells initiate near Paducah at 8:09 p.m., moving to the east/northeast as the storm grew in size and intensity.
At 9:09 p.m., a different strong storm passed to the northeast of Whitesville, clearing the area by 10:00 p.m. At 10:13 p.m., Knight said the storms that developed near Paducah moved into Calhoun “with very heavy rain, severe wind gusts, and hail occurring.”
“Radar imagery indicated 60-65 dbz reflectivity at this time, which is supportive of very heavy rain and hail, both aloft and at the surface,” Knight noted. “At 10:45 p.m., the leading edge of a gust front, which was producing strong wind gusts ahead of the storm, moved into Whitesville.”
“Radar signatures at the time indicate very heavy rain, hail aloft, and severe winds were ongoing,” according to Knight.
The pilot of the aircraft contacted Owensboro-Daviess County air traffic control at 10:44 p.m. The controller, according to the NTSB, “advised the pilot of heavy to extreme precipitation at the airplane’s nine-o-clock position (west of the aircraft).”
“The plane continued its northwesterly course and about two minutes later, the flight instructor requested an instrument flight rules (IFR) clearance (a set of regulations that allow pilots to fly under conditions where they cannot see outside the airplane). The controller issued the clearance and provided an easterly vector to assist the flight in getting out of the weather.
“The flight instructor stated to the controller that the airplane was ‘getting blown around like crazy,’” according to the NTSB, “and the airplane’s flight track showed a turn to the northwest followed by a right circling turn. The controller reiterated the heading of 090 degrees, and the flight instructor responded that they were in ‘pretty extreme turbulence.’”
The flight track showed a continuing right descending turn, and no further communications were received from the flight instructor, the NTSB said.
The airplane’s last ADS-B position (technology which allows an aircraft to determine its position via satellite navigation or other sensors and periodically broadcast the position, enabling it to be tracked), at 10:49 p.m., was at an altitude of 2,200 feet and about 1,000 feet northwest of the wreckage debris field, which spanned 25 acres in a hilly, densely wooded area, according to the NTSB.
At the approximate time of the crash, Knight noted that “velocity radar data (which allows experts to assess winds within the storm) indicated strong wind was surging into the rear section of the storm and being forced downward toward the surface in a downburst.”
“This,” Knight stated, “would have produced strong downward motion in the vicinity of Whitesville as well as very turbulent conditions nearby.”
“Strong to severe conditions were ongoing in and around Whitesville,” according to Knight, “including where the plane wreckage was found, from 10:36-10:57 p.m., before the storm exited the area to the east. This storm had been approaching from the west for over two hours with little deviation in its track and did not ‘rapidly develop’ in the area.”
Examination of the aircraft’s engine, according to investigators, “did not reveal any pre-accident anomalies or malfunctions that would have precluded normal operation.”
The flight was the first time McKellar and Quisenberry had flown together, as McKellar was not the student’s regular instructor.
(Photo l-r: Timothy “Junior” McKellar, courtesy of social media; Connor Quisenberry, courtesy of William L. Danks Funeral Home)
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
The aircraft’s flight path:
