The crash of Air Now flight (Embraer
Bandeirante 110),
Fog forced diversion before fatal N.H. crash
By John Ellement,
To accommodate a customer, Douglas V. Nelson waited for more
than an hour past his usual departure time before he started the twin engines
of his cargo airplane and took to the soupy skies over
It was Thursday around
"The weather was marginal," Michele Van Ness, executive vice president of AirNow, said in a telephone interview yesterday. "But legal for departure."
Nelson, 46, never arrived. At about
According to Van Ness, Nelson arrived at Manchester, only to find that the fog that blanketed huge portions of New England Thursday night made it impossible for him to land his 24-year-old Embraer Bandeirante 110 -- known as a Bandit -- as he had planned.
Nelson was given permission to divert to
"Visibility was extremely poor. . . . We were socked in
with fog just as much of the Northeast has been," said Edward J. Mattern, director of the airport, which is owned by the
city of
The Swanzey airport does not have an air traffic control tower and instead uses an automatic system that allows pilots to activate the runway lights as they approach for landing, officials said.
In September 2002, a family of seven from
Nelson was a resident of
"He was a good pilot. He did a good job. He was a good employee," said Van Ness, who declined to provide any biographical information about Nelson. "And we are going to miss him."
Van Ness said the company has been operating for more than 30 years, providing cargo service for larger package-delivery companies from smaller airports and markets. AirNow is owned by Business Air Inc., officials said.
John Ellement can be reached at ellement@globe.com
© Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company.
News -
Fog may be factor in fatal plane crash
By STEPHEN SEITZ
Union Leader Correspondent
The Union Leader
SWANZEY — Unusual weather and
opaque fog may have contributed to the death of a pilot from
Douglas Nelson, 46, of
“It was the worst possible time to come in,” said Ed Mattern, director of
According to Swanzey police and
fire authorities, a plane crash was reported at
Firefighters from Keene and Swanzey
used foam to extinguish the flames, and Nelson’s body was then discovered; no
one else was aboard the plane. The fire was declared to be under control at
Besides Swanzey authorities, New
Hampshire State Police,
Investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board arrived yesterday afternoon.
The plane, an Embrear 110, was
originally scheduled to deliver overnight packages from
“He started with us in May of 2003,” she said, “and he’d had several commercial flying jobs before joining us.”
The flight began routinely, Van Ness said, but weather conditions later necessitated changes.
“The pilot makes the final decision whether to fly, but
there are rules and regulations we have to follow,” Van Ness said. “Flight
conditions were right for that airport. But he couldn’t land at
That was the last the company heard from Nelson until a
transmission from
Van Ness added that there was nothing unusual in the cargo.
“I went over that with our client,” she said. “There were no hazardous materials on board, but he was carrying extra jet fuel, because the weather was so marginal last night and he knew he might have to divert.”
Mattern said Nelson’s approach was not unusual. Dillant-Hopkins does not have a control tower. Mattern said that pilots usually file flight plans with a secondary airport designated so that there is a place to go if necessary.
At an “uncontrolled” airport, a pilot lets the FAA know what he is doing, and the agency acts as the control tower, following the plane’s progress on its radar.
“The airport’s systems were working as far as I can tell,” Mattern said. “There are no issues with our system. But it was extremely foggy. Even if you’re flying on instruments, there is a point where you have to lift your eyes from the cockpit and try to find the ground.”
Because there was wreckage on the runway, Mattern closed the airport but opened one of the lesser runways later that morning. The main runway will remain closed until the wreckage is removed.
Thursday’s crash is the second at or near the airport in
recent years, and the third affecting the Swanzey
area. On Labor Day 2002, seven members of the Coyle family, who lived in
Six months to the day later, in March 2003, four members of
the Ferris family, who lived in Swanzey, died in
mountains near
Scene of the crash at southern end of the
main runway at
Fog and unusual weather may have contributed to an
aircraft crash in Swanzey (
Ed Mattern directs
He says visibility was poor and conditions at the time were ... QUOTE ... "the worst possible time to come in." He says otherwise, there wasn't anything unusual about the pilot's approach.
The crash killed 46-year old Douglas Nelson of
Air Now executive vice president
Michelle Van Ness says the pilot hoped to land in
Federal officials are investigating, but haven't issued a formal ruling.
Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Pilot from Hampden dies in crash at fogbound
Authorities said a report came in at
Nelson, a full-time employee of
Because of poor visibility at
He did not report any problem or emergency to the airport's air traffic controller before the crash, the same official said.
Nelson was one of the carrier's 75 employees and had been employed there since May 2003. He had had no previous flight problems with the company, the official said.
An official from
At the time of the crash, there were low clouds, fog and
poor visibility in
Nelson, who left BIA at about
"This wasn't a fortunate event," BIA official David Caruso said Friday. "Our hearts go out to Mr. Nelson and his family."
Plane from local business crashes in
The
Article Published:
The wreckage of a
cargo plane rests on the runway at
By ZACH CHURCH
Staff Writer
Douglas Nelson, 46, of
"The result was a fire ensued after the accident and the wreckage obviously was burned significantly and there's not a whole lot of debris remaining," Mattern said.
The cause of the cargo plane crash remains unknown, though Mattern expected authorities would arrive to investigate on Friday afternoon. Nelson is believed to have been the only person on-board, police said.
Nelson was one of 40 pilots for Business Air Inc., which
does business as AIR NOW and operates from the
"He held over
"He contacted (air traffic control), they diverted him
to
"Obviously, he didn't make the approach successfully. As to why, I can't speculate," Mattern said.
In
"I'm not surprised if he was planning on coming into
The plane was carrying overnight express industry packages, including letters and packages, which were insured, Van Ness said. Employees at the company were busy Friday working with investigators and preparing for discussions with insurance investigators.
"We know that they're going to require pilot records, maintenance records, manifests," said Van Ness.
Nelson was a good pilot, Van Ness said, who would sometimes
fly into
"He was a very good employee and we're sorry to have
lost him," she said.