Flight instructor details low-altitude alert in Pacific Grove crash that killed 3
By Michael Rosales
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PACIFIC GROVE, California (KSBW) — The National Transportation Safety Board has released its preliminary report on the plane crash off Pacific Grove in late July that killed three local men, offering insight into the events leading up to the crash without assigning blame.
The three men, including pilot James Vincent and passengers Steve Clatterbuck and Jamie Tabscott, departed from San Carlos Airport in the Bay Area, intending to land at Monterey Airport.
The initial report states that the Beech twin-engine plane was on an instrument approach into Monterey Airport when the controller received an alert indicating the plane was too low.
Daniel Hendrix, a certified flight instructor familiar with the instrument approach into Monterey, explained, “If you have to descend through clouds, you have to use an instrument landing system, which is basically an array of directional antennas…that give us a vertical and lateral guidance.”
The report indicates that while Vincent was initially on the proper path, the controller attempted to vector him back onto the approach after receiving the low altitude alert.
“When he gets a low altitude alert, because the airplane is lower than it should be, he will try to vector the pilot around to rejoin the approach,” Hendrix said.
Vincent confirmed he planned to go around and shoot the approach again.
However, the flight path map showed the aircraft descending to just over 1,200 feet and then even lower to just over 1,100 feet, which was too low.
Heather Wilson, a local resident, recalled, “We were listening and then all of a sudden I just heard what I thought to be the engine falling, and then that was it.”
The plane ultimately crashed into the water off Pacific Grove.
The report is preliminary, and the NTSB will attempt to reassemble the aircraft to determine why it went down.
“Every crash is abnormal and every crash is very sad for the aviation community,” Hendrix said.
The preliminary report is just a snapshot, and it may take up to a year for more findings to be released, if the actual cause of the crash is determined.
This week, the city of Pacific Grove voted to place a bench on the shoreline to honor the victims.
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