Mechanical failure ruled out as cause of Bowen plane crash

Brian Dominguez

Sir Barry Bowen was killed in a plane crash last Friday. That launched an investigation by the Belize Department of Civil Aviation of the aircraft, a V3HDR plane.  Bowen and his passengers, Michael and Jillian Casey and their two children, two and a half year old Makayla and five month old Bryce, all perished when the craft fell to the ground less than a mile from the San Pedro Airstrip.  The six panel team sat down this afternoon to brief the media into the latest developments coming out of their investigation.  Two pilots, two maintenance engineers and International Inspectors from Cessna Corporation, the manufacturers of the aircraft and Rolls Royce, the manufacturers of the engine are taking part in the investigation.  Every aspect of Bowen’s last flight has been examined with a fine tooth comb.  Bowen had been flying since 1976 and he was license to fly in Belize and the U.S.  His last physical examination was in 2009 and he passed that test.  The aircraft was constructed in 1982 and had gone through many inspections and in the 1990’s it was outfitted with a turbo engine.  The investigators are saying that it is not mechanical failure that caused the fatal crash on February twenty sixth.  They say that other factors are still under investigation.

Jose Contreras, Director of Civil Aviation

“Findings at this time are that the pilot probably lost control of the aircraft due to other contributing factors, which are still under investigation.”

Jose Sanchez

“Is the result of the autopsy going to be something you are seeking to look at?”

Brian Dominguez, Lead Investigator, Dept. of Civil Aviation

“That is a part of the report that we’re compiling; the final report yes. We are also interested, yes it is a part of the investigation.”

Jose Contreras

“The cruising altitude was three thousand, five hundred feet. The pilot in command was sir Barry Bowen. Our latest records indicate that he was properly licensed and had five thousand seven hundred and five total hours flying time. On this particular flight he had carried out three other flights. It was San Pedro – Belize City, Belize City – Privacion, Privacion – Belize City and the last flight was Belize to San Pedro. The radar provided information service until the aircraft was thirteen miles from the San Pedro airport. The pilot was told to switch to the common frequency, which is 122.8 megahertz. This instruction was at five-sixteen which the pilot acknowledged. All indications are that the flight was normal and at no time was any emergency declared.”

Rick Cocom, Chief Air Traffic Control Officer

“The aircraft departed from the Municipal Airstrip en route to San Pedro. He is cruising at three thousand, five hundred. He is just passed here at Chicken Caye. The radar track shows the direct track to San Pedro. At this Caye, it gives him tropic advisory of opposite traffic that was also flying bound to the international airport. As you can see on the radar screen, he crossed the traffic. The island here is Caye Chapel and there’s Caye Caulker and at this position the air traffic controllers give him the go ahead to switch to the common broadcasting frequency. And as you can see, he started his initial descent at two thousand six hundred into San Pedro. It’s out of one thousand, nine hundred descending which is the normal rate that he goes in to San Pedro.  He crossed the TMA and now he’s approaching the coast line to San Pedro. Out of nine hundred, eight hundred, seven hundred; that’s the area which he had disappeared.”

Jose Contreras

“The aircraft disappeared from the radar screen when closing altitude seven hundred feet and approximately five miles from the San Pedro Airport. This is a normal altitude where aircrafts tend to be out of range of radar. At five-thirty-one p.m. local time, the Chief Operations Officer of Tropic Air Limited called the air traffic control carrier informing that he was aware of an aircraft accident. It is estimated that this accident occurred at approximately five-eighteen p.m. local time.  The aircraft crashed at about point eight of a mile on final on final approach for runway 06 of the San Pedro Airport.”

Brian Dominguez

“We observed what we believed to be the initial impact area and we also observed other areas where we believe the aircraft might have touched initially. Some mangroves that we observed were padded down.  We believe that Sir Barry attempted to recover, at this point he subsequently impacted the mast of a barge. The barge had three masts standing, he impacted initially the first one which had a severe dent and a second and third. The aircraft came to rest across a lagoon. The fuselage of the aircraft was severely compromised. We observed also the fact that Sir Barry’s aircraft had signs of parts disintegrating or leaving the aircraft prematurely. We currently have a team out there as we speak, the engine specialist and the manufacture specialist examining the crash scene and any further developments we will convey to you.”

Jose Sanchez

“At the scene on Saturday, the plane wasn’t within the flying path but yet all the planes that were coming over seemed to be a lot higher in the air than the mast on the barge.”

Brian Dominguez

“That is correct and that is the question we are trying to find out. Why was he at that altitude?”

At the end of the conference, the panelists said that the investigation would take a minimum of twelve months before it is complete. In related news, the bodies of the Casey family, were flown back to the Albany, New York today for burial. The family lived in Gallon Jug and the two adults taught at the school.