Article Published:
MU-2's maker recommends specialized training
By Jeffrey Leib
After four fatal crashes of Mitsubishi MU-2 aircraft this
year, including one near
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America recommends that pilots of its planes get specialized training in flight simulators so they can test emergency conditions and procedures in a safe environment, said Ralph Sorrells, deputy general manager of the company's aircraft product support division.
In the wake of this year's series of accidents, Sorrells said his company is "deeply concerned, and we're in the process of trying to get the word out" about the best training practices for MU-2 aviators.
Mitsubishi is holding pilot- training seminars throughout the country and encouraging federal officials to upgrade training standards.
Because of the weight of their aircraft, MU-2 pilots do not need special certification required for crews on heavier planes, including jets.
But more demanding training is required for those piloting Mitsubishi aircraft, experts say, because the planes are significantly different in design and performance from lighter twin- engine piston planes that many pilots fly before moving up to the turboprop.
Mitsubishi is working with the Federal Aviation Administration on a possible national upgrade of training for pilots who fly more sophisticated twin- engine turboprops such as the MU-2, Sorrells said.
"An FAA-endorsed program would help," he said.
A dangerous reputation
Since 1968 there have been 181 accidents involving MU-2 aircraft, including 74 that involved fatalities, according to a review of National Transportation Safety Board records. At least 238 people have died in MU-2 crashes.
Mitsubishi stopped making the planes in the mid-1980s; there are about 420 of them left, flying around the world.
A spate of accidents in the 1970s saddled MU-2 aircraft with a reputation as a dangerous plane, leading some pilots to shy away from flying them.
The planes will carry that reputation "for the rest of
their life," said Todd McCredie, treasurer of
the Piper-McCredie Insurance Agency in
"Safety on this airplane is strictly in the training," said McCredie, 35.
MU-2 planes are a workhorse of the twin-turboprop sector of corporate aviation, with many used now for hauling canceled checks and other freight items for banks and other businesses.
The plane that crashed near
The crash killed pilots Paul Krysiak
and James Presba. Krysiak,
28, of
Presba, 25, of Lone Tree was in the cockpit as a pilot- observer and was not being trained to fly the plane, said Aaron Sauer, the NTSB's lead investigator on the accident.
Neither Sauer nor Mitsubishi's Sorrells would say whether Krysiak had undergone flight-simulator training or any other advanced instruction in MU-2 aircraft, but industry observers say some freight- hauling companies often do not spend the money on such advanced training.
Critics and even many strong supporters of MU-2 aircraft agree the planes have unique aerodynamic and handling qualities that require an extra level of pilot proficiency.
Losing power in an engine shortly after takeoff, which
apparently happened to the plane that crashed near
Allman, who flew fighters in the Navy and later commercial airliners for US Airways, also accumulated more than 500 hours flying MU-2 aircraft.
Certified flight schools
Some aviation experts say simulator instruction may not be essential for MU-2 pilots but some other form of intensive training is needed for those who want to fly the aircraft safely.
McCredie, the aircraft insurer
from
It includes three days of ground school and one day of flying.
McCredie has accumulated 450 flight hours in the family's MU-2, and his father, 1,800 hours.
McCredie said his company won't sell insurance to MU-2 owners and operators unless all pilots get annual training at one of three certified flight schools for the Mitsubishi planes.
The high MU-2 accident rate led government officials to perform a certification review of Mitsubishi aircraft about 20 years ago, according to a history of the planes published by Howell Enterprises.
"The FAA found that the MU-2 does comply with the regulations," according to Howell. "Nothing was found in flight testing, accident analysis or examination of systems and structure that was outside the rules or would lead to accidents."
The need for a possible special MU-2 "type-rating," or pilot certification, was considered as well, "but found unnecessary by the FAA."
Barbara Hudson of the Denver Post research library contributed to this report.
Staff writer Jeffrey Leib can be reached at 303-820-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com .
2 die in plane crash south of E-470
By Brian Crecente And Tillie Fong, Rocky Mountain News
A small cargo plane circling into
The identities of the pilot and the other victim were not
known late Friday, said Lt. Tim Moore,
The Mitsubishi MU-2B-60, a twin-engine turboprop, took off
from Centennial about
The aircraft, which caught on fire, went down just east of First Data Corp.'s 166,000-square-foot complex at the northern edge of the Meridian Office Park, which is south of E-470 and the airport.
The pilot was able to avoid hitting any buildings, and no one else was injured.
Pilot Mike Postel, who flies a cargo plane for Key Lime Air, was landing his aircraft when he heard the Mitsubishi pilot radio the Centennial air traffic controller. Postel said he could hear the anxiety in the voice of the pilot as he radioed for help.
"He said he needed to shut down an engine and come back around," Postel said. "They asked if he needed assistance and the pilot said, 'Yeah, you better roll the trucks.' "
Postel said the only reason a pilot typically would shut down an engine is because of mechanical or fuel problems. Postel added that pilots will call for fire trucks to come out to the runway if they think they may crash or have an emergency.
Postel said he saw the pilot coming around "very low" about the time he was ready to land. Postel was concentrating on his own approach and landing but looked back up and saw that the other plane had disappeared.
The Douglas County 911 emergency dispatcher received a call
from the Centennial tower about
Deputies had to search a two- mile radius south of the airport but found the plane within 10 minutes.
"There was a small fire in the tail section,"
The National Transportation Safety Board was notified, and
its investigators are expected to arrive on scene this morning,
Donna Taylor with the Federal Aviation Adminstration's
Donn Walker, spokesman for the FAA, said Americheck is a "check hauler" that transports checks to banks.
FAA records show that the plane that crashed was built in 1981 and was registered to Flight Line Inc., of Watkins. Officials with Flight Line declined to comment Friday night.
Investigators learned late Friday that the plane was headed
to
Cheryl Poage, a Parker Fire Department spokeswoman, said firefighters were able to put out the fire in the aircraft in about 10 minutes. Firefighters and hazardous-materials crews also were using foam to control fuel leaking from the aircraft.
Andy Byars, 14, said he was at home nearby when he learned about the crash and raced to get as close as he could to the wreckage.
"The plane looked like a soda can someone had stepped on," he said.
Staff writer Hector Gutierrez and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Article Published:
2 killed in Dougco plane
crash
Pilot told controller of engine problems
By David Migoya, Felisa Cardona, John Ingold and Jeremy Meyer
Special / Matthew Staver
A firefighter douses the wreckage of a Mitsubishi MU-2 after
it crashed Friday, killing two. The plane took off from
Douglas County - Two people died in an airplane crash south of Centennial Airport on Friday night after the plane's pilot told the airport control tower he was having engine trouble.
The Mitsubishi MU-2, a twin-engine turboprop plane,
plummeted into the parking lot of the First Data Corp. building near
The plane missed the First Data building by about 150 yards
and a townhome complex by about three- quarters of a
mile.
"We were very fortunate because it was near an office
building,"
Federal aviation records show the plane was owned by
American Check Transport Inc. The company, which also goes by Flight Line Inc.,
has an address at
The company is a freight airline that hauls canceled checks and other light cargo. Many Mitsubishi aircraft have been converted to carry such cargo.
American Check Transport owner Anthony Mulei
of
Pilot Mike Postel said he was
landing at
"He was flying unusually low for this area," Postel said.
Postel said the weather was "beautiful" at the time of the crash. He said he heard the MU-2's pilot tell the air-traffic controller that he was having engine trouble and needed to shut down one of his engines.
The pilot said he was going to return to the airport, Postel said.
The air-traffic controller asked him whether he needed assistance when he landed.
"Go ahead and run," the pilot said, accepting the request for assistance.
"I was paying attention to what I was doing, and then when I looked back, I didn't see him anymore," Postel said.
The plane burst into flames on impact, scorching much of the crumpled wreckage.
The air-traffic controller called 911 when the plane disappeared
from radar, and a sheriff's deputy was the first person to find the wreckage,
Firefighters and paramedics soon followed.
The stench of jet fuel hung heavy in the air for hours after the crash.
Andy Byars, 14, said he was coming home from a Christmas recital when he saw the flames and commotion. He said he went up on a hill and watched firefighters douse the fire.
"It was crushed," Byars said of the plane. "You could make out the fuselage. It was smashed up."
Investigators could be seen late Friday cordoning off a large area around the plane and examining what appeared to be a trail of wreckage.
Cheryl Poage, a spokeswoman for
the Parker Fire Department, said six planes have crashed in recent years in the
area south of
Amy Maltarich, a manager at the
nearby call-center business Teletech, said she was
outside on Friday watching planes come into
"Some of them fly really low, and that's really scary," Maltarich said.
Records from the Federal Aviation Administration show American Check Transport Inc. has had a few minor crashes over the years and a fatal crash in February 2000 involving a Mitsubishi plane similar to the one that crashed Friday night.
The company allegedly owns 18 planes, 10 of which are
similar to the plane that crashed Friday. The others are Piper Chieftans. Most of the planes are based out of
In all, there have been 26 accidents and incidents involving Mitsubishi aircraft over the past five years, according to National Transportation Safety Board records, including six involving the MU-2B-60 turboprop. Three of the six were fatal accidents.
Staff writer David Migoya can be reached at 303-820-1506 or dmigoya@denverpost.com.
Two Die In Centennial Plane Crash
Pilot Reported Trouble On
Takeoff
POSTED:
UPDATED:
The pilot had just cleared the main runway when he radioed
that he had an emergency and was attempting to return the airport. The aircraft
slammed into a parking lot of the
The plane that crashed was a Mitsubishi MU-2, like this one.
The accident happened shortly before
A pilot who landed just before the accident told reporters he heard the radio conversation between the plane and the tower.
"He said, 'I need to shut an engine down, roll the trucks,'" Mike Postel said, referring to the pilot's request for emergency crews to meet the plane at the runway. Postel said he looked back to see if the plane was on final approach but didn't see him.
The pilot was on his way back to the airport when the
aircraft went down,
A fire broke out in the rear of the plane when it crashed in the parking lot of First Data Corp., but a large part of the aircraft did not burn.
Debbie Taylor, of the Federal Aviation Administration's
Emergency Operations center in
The Mile High Chapter of the American Red Cross sent a Disaster Action Team to the crash site to help anyone who might have been affected by the accident.
Americheck is a check-recovery service for businesses.
Copyright 2004 by TheDenverChannel.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved.
Article Published:
FAA: Pilot properly trained
Aviation officials defend the safety record of the
plane model and suspect that more than just engine trouble was involved in the
accident near
By Marsha Austin
Paul Krysiak, the pilot of a
twin-engine aircraft that plunged nose-first into a suburban
"We went through all his records, and everything was fine," said Robert Dixon, FAA operations inspector.
Carrie Krysiak, herself a pilot, described her husband as a smart, funny man who had a passion for flying. "He would have flown for free. ... That's how much he loved it," she said. Krysiak declined to discuss the accident, which killed her husband, 28, and another pilot, James Presba, 25.
Investigators do not yet know whether pilot error played a role in the cargo plane's crash but said they suspect something more than the engine trouble Krysiak reported one minute after takeoff.
"That airplane could fly all day on one engine," said Aaron Sauer, National Transportation Safety Board air investigator.
What is known is that shortly after takeoff,
Krysiak chose to return to
Greg Feith, former senior NTSB investigator, said Krysiak probably disobeyed the control tower because he did not want to turn in the direction of the aircraft's dead engine, a maneuver that could have thrown the plane into an uncontrollable spin.
Federal investigators have not yet reported which engine failed or was shut down.
The NTSB on Sunday hauled the crumpled wreck to a special
facility in
The type of plane Krysiak and Presba were flying has come under scrutiny.
The Mitsubishi MU-2's reputation for difficult handling at low altitudes and slow speeds has earned the plane such nicknames as the "Widow Maker," "Hiroshima Screamer," "Rice Rocket" and "Kill You-2," as named on websites for pilots.
The planes are no longer used for passenger travel because of the high cost of insurance, according to Robert Cadwalader, a longtime pilot who's spent hours analyzing aircraft accident records.
Various models of the MU-2 have been involved in 180 accidents during the past 36 years, resulting in more than 200 fatalities, according to NTSB records.
In the past two decades, eight MU-2B planes have crashed in
Two of the
In September 1982, an MU-2B-25, a slightly different
aircraft model than the one piloted by Krysiak, took
off from
All five passengers and the pilot were killed. The cause: A misaligned turbine bearing in the left engine.
Sauer insisted Sunday that the MU-2 is no more unsafe than any other aircraft of its type. He said he did not agree with pilots who questioned its integrity.
"It is not considered an unsafe aircraft," he said. "There are 400 out there flying that have not been involved in accidents."
Feith, now a private aviation safety consultant, agreed. He said the MU-2 may take a little more skill to handle, but he said that overall, "It's not any worse than any other airplane."
"The MU-2 by its very nature requires a little more vigilance," Feith said. "But there are a lot of guys that love that airplane."
Staff writer Marsha Austin can be reached at 303-820-1242 or maustin@denverpost.com.
Officials probe cargo plane crash
By Jennifer Miller, Rocky Mountain News
CENTENNIAL - Investigators moved forward Sunday with efforts
to determine what went wrong with a small cargo plane that crashed Friday
evening near
Pilot Paul Krysiak, 28, of
The Mitsubishi MU-2B-60, a twin-engine turboprop, crashed shortly after takeoff. It came down near a business park south of E-470, but no one on the ground was injured.
The Douglas County Coroner is expected to perform autopsies on the two men today, said Lt. Tim Moore, of the county sheriff's office.
On Sunday morning, the wreckage sat on two trailers as workers prepared to haul it away from the lot in the business park, which is south of E-470 near Peoria Street.
The wreckage is headed to Beegles
Aircraft Service in
"We had a meeting Saturday evening to make sure we gathered everything we needed: air-traffic control communications, radar information, maintenance records, pilot records.
"Weather wasn't really an issue," he said.
The plane's engines will be shipped to
The small cargo plane was owned by Flight Line Inc. of
Watkins. It took off about
Sauer said Sunday that the pilot was qualified to fly the plane.
"He had an airline transport pilot certificate," he said. "That's more than enough to fly that airplane."
Article Published:
Safety record spotty for plane in crash
Two killed Friday in
By Kirk Mitchell Katy Human and Jeffrey Leib
Post / John Epperson
The remains of a Mitsubishi MU-2 twin-engine turboprop plane
that crashed Friday night after reporting engine trouble lie crumpled Saturday
in a First Data Corp. parking lot just south of
Douglas County - The plane that plummeted nose-first into a parking lot Friday night, killing two pilots, had to make an emergency landing 15 years ago after a propeller blade fell off one of its engines, federal aviation records show.
The same aircraft model, the Mitsubishi MU-2, has been involved in a number of fatal accidents. Widely considered cheap and fast cargo planes, the aircraft have been involved in 180 accidents in the last 36 years, with more than 200 fatalities, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
Some pilots familiar with the MU-2 say it is difficult to maneuver, particularly at low altitudes and speeds. One longtime pilot said he questions whether the model should continue to be in service.
And a review of the pilots' backgrounds shows neither was certified to fly that particular model aircraft, according to available federal aviation records.
Pilot Paul Krysiak, 28, of Aurora
and trainee James Presba, 25, of Lone Tree were
killed Friday in the
Krysiak, who had more than 3,000
flight hours, had been a pilot for Flight Line Inc., located at
"Paul was a very good person and an excellent pilot," he said.
Federal Aviation Administration pilot records show Krysiak held an airline transport pilot's certificate that was issued in January. The only "type rating," or aircraft-type certification, that Krysiak had on his FAA record was for the BE-300, which aviation officials said refers to the Beechcraft King Air 300.
Presba, already a pilot, joined the flight as part of his training to become a Flight Line employee, Mulei said. The freight company employs 20 pilots, he said.
"He was not in command or ready to fly the plane," Mulei said.
Presba held a commercial pilot's certificate, issued in April 2003. He had no type ratings on his FAA airman's record. Presba also had flight instructor and ground instructor certificates.
Krysiak flew the plane five times a
week, transporting freight to
On Friday night, the plane was carrying checks and parts for agricultural machines, Mulei said.
Within a minute after takeoff at
Krysiak was cleared to return to
the airport,
But when he received an instruction from the control tower to bank right, his plane banked left, Sauer said. It is unclear why he did so, Sauer said.
The pilot could have been steering the plane to the left for
tactical reasons or because he didn't have control of the plane,
Longtime pilot Robert Cadwalader,
who lives in
"They won't insure them for charter, or they'll make it so incredibly expensive you can't afford it," Cadwalader said.
But Arlie Aeschliman, owner of Pheasant Flying Services in Holly, said a lot of pilots love the MU-2. Aeschliman, a pilot and mechanic, said they can be tricky when learning to fly them, but called them "really beautiful flying machines."
Efforts to reach representatives of Mitsubishi were unsuccessful on Saturday.
Pilot Mike Postel said he was
landing at
"He was flying unusually low for this area," Postel said.
Postel said the weather was "beautiful" at the time of the crash. He said he heard the MU-2's pilot tell the air-traffic controller that he needed to shut down one of his engines.
The air-traffic controller asked him whether he needed assistance when he landed.
"Go ahead and run," the pilot said, accepting the offer for assistance.
"I was paying attention to what I was doing, and then when I looked back, I didn't see him anymore," Postel said.
According to another witness, the twin-engine MU-2 fell nose-first. It landed in the parking lot of the First
Data Corp. building near
Krysiak and Presba
died instantly,
The plane missed the First Data building by about 150 yards and a townhome complex by about three-quarters of a mile. Upon impact, the plane crumpled, and an explosion sent debris flying more than 100 feet. The airplane's wings were severed from the fuselage, and the right engine plowed a furrow into a field.
Cheryl Poage, a spokeswoman for
the Parker Fire Department, said six planes have crashed in recent years in the
area south of
FAA records show Flight Line has had a few minor crashes over the years and a fatal crash in February 2000 involving a Mitsubishi plane similar to the one that crashed Friday night.
In 1989, one engine failed when a propeller fell off on the
plane that crashed Friday. The aircraft made an emergency landing in
Flight Line owns 18 planes, 10 of which are similar to the
plane that crashed Friday. The others are Piper Chieftans.
Most of the planes are based out of
The checks inside the Flight Line plane that crashed Friday
were from transactions in Denver-area Vectra Bank
It's likely the plane's cargo of checks and deposits is
intact,
Staff writers David Migoya, Felisa Cardona, John Ingold and Jeremy Meyer contributed to this report.
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-820-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.
Article Published:
Trainee remembered for love of flying, ties to father
By Heath Urie
Lone Tree - James "Tuck" Presba
died doing what he loved best - flying.
Saturday, friends and family gathered in his parent's home in Lone Tree, where he had been living temporarily while searching for an apartment nearby. Family members at the home said they didn't want to talk about his death.
Presba, 25, and pilot Paul Krysiak died Friday night when the twin-engine turboprop plane Krysiak was piloting crashed just south of Centennial Airport in Douglas County.
Krysiak's family gathered at his
home in
Friends said they would remember Presba as a charismatic young man with a passion for family and flight. He even sold a car he had rebuilt to help pay for flight school.
Presba spent time in
"He was excited to be flying ... He knew he wanted to fly, and he had a great passion, too," said Scott Taylor, co-owner of A-1 Scuba and Travel, where Presba's father, Jim Presba, works as a contract instructor. "He was real personable, real quick with a handshake and not shy in the least."
Presba shared many things with his father, friends said. Both were certified scuba divers, they enjoyed rebuilding cars and both shared a passion for playing the guitar.
Thomas and Carole Oberhauser, family friends and neighbors of the Presbas, said "Tuck," as they knew him, would take his father flying and constantly work on projects with him. The two were inseparable, they said.
"They are a very valued family," Carole Oberhauser said. "He had a very strong connection with (his father). This is such a tragedy."
Staff writer Claire Martin contributed to this report
Two
die in
The plane's pilot told the airport control tower he was having engine trouble, reported the Denver Post.
The two in the plane died instantly, but the plane missed the First Data building by about 150 yards and a town house complex by about three- quarters of a mile.
"We were very fortunate because it was near an office
building," said
Federal records indicate the plane was owned by American Check Transport Inc., also known as Flight Line Inc. -- a freight airline that hauls canceled checks and other light cargo.
My KOAA
Investigation into fatal plane crash
Authorities today identified the two
Officials said the two men died when their Misubishi MU-2 crashed shortly after takeoff. The pilot had radioed an emergency and was attempting to return to the airport when the plane slammed into a parking lot, slid, and caught fire.
The accident occurred about
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration were conducting an investigation. They say the investigation could take between six months to a year.
Updated:
9NEWS' initial team coverage of the crash on Friday.
9NEWS' Dan Weaver takes a closer look at the company that lost friends and
colleagues in the crash.
9NEWS' Saturday team coverage of the investigation.
Aircraft involved in 180 accidents, more than 200
fatalities
The Associated Press
ENGLEWOOD, Colo.— The type of aircraft involved in a deadly crash near Centennial Airport last week has been involved in 180 accidents in 36 years, killing more than 200 people - including at least five this year.
A twin-engine Mitsubishi MU-2, an aircraft popular for carrying light cargo, crashed in an empty business parking lot shortly after takeoff Friday, killing pilot Paul Krysiak, 28, of Aurora, and co-pilot James Presba, 25, of Lone Tree.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators on Sunday said Krysiak's records showed he had been properly trained and certified to fly the craft.
Krysiak radioed that he was having engine trouble shortly after takeoff and was attempting to return to the airport when the plane crashed nose-first, slid and caught fire.
Investigators are looking at possible pilot error and at what besides engine trouble could have caused the crash.
"That airplane could fly all day on one engine," said Aaron Sauer, National Transportation Safety Board air investigator.
In March, an MU-2 cargo plane crashed near
The same month, a
Both accidents remain under investigation.
An MU-2 was also involved in the April 19, 1993, Zwingle, Iowa, crash that killed South Dakota Gov. George Mickelson, two high-ranking state officials, three businessmen and two crew members.
An investigation concluded a tiny crack caused one of the spinning propeller blades to separate, which caused more damage that made the plane nearly impossible to control.
"It is not considered an unsafe aircraft," Sauer said. "There are 400 out there flying that have not been involved in accidents."
Greg Feith, former senior NTSB investigator, said the MU-2 may take a little more skill, but overall, is no worse than any other airplane.
"The MU-2 by its very nature requires a little more vigilance," Feith said. "But there are a lot of guys that love that airplane."
Shortly after takeoff Friday, air traffic controllers instructed Krysiak to bank right for his return to the airport. Instead, Krysiak banked left.
Feith said Krysiak probably disobeyed the control tower because turning into the direction of a dead engine could have thrown the plane into an uncontrollable spin.
In the past two decades, eight MU-2B planes have crashed in
Two of the
The September 1982 crash of an MU-2B-25 near the
Lone Tree pilot killed in crash
By: Jeremy Bangs, Staff Writer
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board are in Centennial today trying to determine what caused a small plane to crash Friday evening, killing the pilot and co-pilot.
The Mitsubishi MU-2 turbo prop cargo plane crashed about a
mile south of
Pilot Paul Krysiak, 28, of Aurora and co-pilot James Presba, 25, of Lone Tree were killed in the crash. No one else was on board and no one on the ground was injured.
The wreckage of the plane was removed from the crash site Saturday
afternoon, said NTSB Air Safety Investigator Aaron Sauer. Pieces of the plane
and its cargo will be reassembled in
Sauer did not recall what caused the other two crashes he's investigated, but a story published by the Baltimore Sun in May following the crash of an MU-2 at Baltimore Washington International Airport, this model of aircraft has had 183 accidents in 36 y ears, accounting for nearly 200 fatalities.
Flight Line, an air cargo company based in
Krysiak usually flew the daily run to SLC, Mulei said, but Presba, a licensed commercial pilot, was new to Flight Line. Presba was on board Friday's flight as an observer as part of his training program with the company.
Parker Fire and South Metro Fire Rescue responded to
Friday's crash. The Douglas County Sheriff's Office reports the plane took off
from runway 35 at
Mulei spoke highly of Krysiak's experience in the cockpit and dedication to work and family.
"He was a great pilot," he said. "This is a very sad day."
©Douglas County News-Press 2004
Article Published:
Expert says crashed plane has high mishap rate
By Jeffrey Leib
Mitsubishi MU-2 aircraft had a fatal accident rate about twice that of the entire category of business turboprops between 1999 and 2003, according to a company that studies business aviation safety.
A Mitsubishi MU-2B-60 crashed shortly after takeoff from
Paul Krysiak, 28, of
The fatal accident rate of the MU-2 series was compiled by Robert E. Breiling Associates of Boca Raton, Fla., a leading authority on the safety record of corporate aircraft.
The plane was operated by American Check Transport, which hauls checks and other freight for financial institutions and other business customers.
After takeoff, Krysiak told air traffic controllers he had problems with an engine and he attempted a return to the airport. The plane crashed into the parking lot of First Data Corp., just south of the airport.
On Monday, officials were removing the engines and crating
them for shipment to
"We have all the propeller blades accounted for," Sauer said. "There was no separation" of blades.
A review of accident records involving MU-2 aircraft revealed at least one case in which there was blade separation on an engine.
Sauer said it is too early to tell which engine was causing Krysiak difficulty and whether the maneuvers the pilot undertook to make an emergency landing were correct.
Some pilots who have flown MU-2 series planes say they are high-performance aircraft that require an unusual level of training and flying skills.
"I think it's a great airplane, but it has some unique
characteristics," said John Paul Jones of
The plane "takes more experience to fly" than the "young guys" who fly it for freight-hauling often have, said Jones, who retired with a total of about 16,000 flight hours in several aircraft.
He said some pilots fly MU-2 planes after as little as 10 hours of training in the aircraft.
Krysiak had a total of 3,000 flight hours on his record, according to officials, but the NTSB's Sauer said he did not yet know how many of those hours were in the cockpit of the MU-2.
Staff writer Jeffrey Leib can be reached at 303-820-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com.
Crashed cargo plane transported to
Inspectors will try to determine cause of fatal
accident
By John Aguilar, Rocky Mountain News
The plane that crashed just south of
"We're going to document the structure as we see it," said Aaron Sauer, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board.
Sauer said the airframe of the Mitsubishi MU-2B-60 that Paul
Krysiak, of Aurora, and James "Tuck" Presba, of Lone Tree, were piloting was laid out at Beegles Aircraft Service in
He said a representative from Hartzell
Propeller Inc. also was in
Sauer said the transport plane's Garrett TPE 331 engines
were being boxed up and sent to Honeywell Engine Systems in
Shortly after taking off for
He then banked to the left and crashed into a field near a business park just south of E-470.
Sauer said officials have not determined to which engine Krysiak was referring in his radio call.
Douglas County Coroner Wesley Riber said Monday that both Krysiak and Presba died of "massive bodily injury due to blunt force trauma."
Presba's father, Jim Presba, disputed press reports that his son was a pilot in training.
"He was not a rookie," he said Monday. "He was an accomplished pilot."
Presba said his 25-year-old son had more than 1,000 hours of flying time and was in the middle of getting his Air Transport Pilot rating.
Flying was pilot's obsession
Coloradan followed in father's footsteps
Paul Krysiak, of Aurora,
died in a crash Friday
By Julie Poppen, Rocky Mountain News
One thing for certain can be said about Paul Krysiak.
"My husband walked, talked, lived and breathed
aviation," Carrie Krysiak said of her
28-year-old husband, who died when the small cargo plane he was piloting
crashed Friday evening at
You might say airplanes ran in his blood. His father, Tony,
of
"He wanted to follow in his dad's footsteps," she said.
Paul Krysiak grew up in
"My husband was the most wonderful man on earth," Krysiak said. "He was a good, kind, sensible, funny, sparkling human being. You couldn't be in his presence and not be in a good mood."
She said
"He's going to be missed by everybody," Krysiak said. "Aviation is a small but big world. It's a community and a family."