The National Transportation Safety Board has released a preliminary investigation on a plane accident in Connecticut that killed a Boston couple and two pilots, finding that the aircraft's parking brake was still on and witnesses characterized the jet as "moving slower" than usual before takeoff.
According to the investigation, which was released on Tuesday, witnesses saw a cloud of smoke and noticed the twin-engine Cessna 560XL was having difficulty gaining height. The NTSB did not disclose what caused the fatal September 2 collision in Farmington, which is still being investigated.
The private plane was intended to travel from Plainville's Robertson Airport to Manteo, North Carolina's Dare County Regional Airport. However, shortly after takeoff, it crashed with a laser plant and caught fire, Daily Mail reported.
Connecticut jet crash kills 4 individuals
Courtney Haviland, 33, of Boston, and her husband, William Shrauner, 32, were killed, as were the two pilots, William O'Leary, 55, of Bristol, and Mark Morrow, 57, of Danbury. Four individuals were injured on the ground, one of them was critically injured.
Haviland and Shrauner left behind a toddler-aged son, and Haviland was pregnant at the time of the accident, according to family. One witness saw the twin-engine Cessna accelerating on the runway at Plainville's Robertson Airport was traveling slower than usual.
The flight data recorder indicates the plane took 17 seconds to accelerate from 20 knots to 100 knots, compared to 11.5 seconds and 12 seconds on the prior two trips.
A cloud of blue smoke was seen coming from the jet's back, and another witness believed something was wrong since the nose landing gear was still on the ground near the runway's midway.
According to investigators, a third witness observed the jet departing the runway in a level position with its nose tilted up, but it was not rising.
Jet going slower than usual before fatal crash
The study did not specify when the brake was used, but aviation expert Dr. Michael Teiger told News 8 that if the brake was activated during takeoff, it may have prevented the pilot from obtaining sufficient speed and height before the jet ran out of runway.
NTSB officials said the final report, which will contain the probable reasons of the disaster, might take a year or more to complete.
Mark Morrow's wife, Dunja Morrow, told The News-Times earlier this month that her husband "talked about flying every minute of his life."
Michael Morrow, their son, informed the source that his father, Mark Morrow, had been a flying instructor for decades and had even trained him and his sister to fly.
Morrow was characterized by family members as "talented, mechanically," and that he could "repair anything." Prior to COVID-19, he worked for private aircraft charter business ConnAir Corporation and has since worked independently.
According to a 2017 article from the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, the other pilot was identified as William 'Will' O'Leary, 55, of Bristol, whose father Bill O'Leary had operated the Robertson Airport on behalf of the town. Interstate Aviation, a flying school and aviation charter company founded by Bill O'Leary, has been operating at the airport since 1971.
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