Federal investigators were trying to find out what caused a commuter plane to veer out of control seconds after taking off from a North Carolina airport yesterday, killing all 21 aboard.
The pilot of US Airways Express Flight 5481 declared an emergency moments before the plane suddenly corkscrewed, clipping a hangar at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport before slamming into the ground.
“We heard the airplane taking off, and then we heard the noise – the boom – and that was it,” witness Gary Barrier told the Charlotte Observer. “It’s just a sickening feeling.”
Aviation officials don’t know what caused the crash – the nation’s first deadly commercial air accident in more than a year – and the FBI said there were no indications that terrorism was to blame.
The six-year-old twin-engine Beechcraft 1900D, run by Mesa Air Lines under the US Airways banner, had no record of serious trouble or maintenance problems, according to government records.
The plane was on a quick jump to the Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C., airport, about 45 minutes away, when it took off shortly before 9 a.m. in clear skies and light wind.
The impact splintered the plane into unrecognizable pieces, scattering charred debris in an area half the size of a football field, fire officials said.
More than 100 firefighters battled the roaring flames, fed by 2,000 pounds of jet fuel.
No one on board the full flight – 19 passengers, including an 11-year-old, and two crew members – survived. Hundreds of workers on the ground escaped injury.
The dead also included 13-year-old Caitlin Albury of the Bahamas and her father, Robin Albury, 38, and uncle, Nicholas Albury, 21.
Also killed were two Clemson University graduate students Sreenivasa Reddy Badam, 24, and Ganeshram Sreenivasan, 23, both of India, and three workers with the W.R. Grace chemical company.
Just before the crash, the pilot, Capt. Katie Leslie of Charlotte, reported an emergency, but her transmission was cut short and the problem was never identified, aviation officials said.
Leslie, 25, had been a commercial pilot for three years.
John Goglia of the National Transportation Safety Board said the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder were recovered and are being analyzed.
“Both were burned, but it does appear they were in decent shape,” he said.
He said bolts and small pieces of debris were found on the runway after the crash, but it wasn’t clear if they were from the doomed plane.
Records show the propeller-driven aircraft had eight in-flight reports of minor service difficulties, including an engine fuel leak.
By Maki Becker, Daily News Staff Writer
