HARTFORD, Conn. _ A four-page preliminary report issued Tuesday by the National Transpiration Safety Board into a B-17 bomber crash earlier this month at Bradley International Airport that killed seven acknowledges tests of fuel and weather conditions, but does not discuss if investigators have confirmed engine issues or pilot error.
The Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress, operated by The Collings Foundation, crashed with 13 people aboard as it tried to return to the airport after reporting engine trouble minutes after takeoff on the morning of Oct. 2.
After acknowledging the call that the plane needed to return, the NTSB wrote, "The controller then asked for the reason for the return to the airport, and the pilot replied that the airplane had a "rough mag" on the No. 4 engine."
The plane struck a de-icing facility and burst into flames, killing the pilot, co-pilot and five passengers, and injuring seven others.
Law enforcement sources told The Courant that Collings Foundation officials were aware of a problem with at least one engine before it took off and Debra Riddell, the wife of Rob Riddell, one of the passengers killed in the crash, said she witnessed those issues first hand.
Debra Riddell said once the 10 passengers had entered the plane, the pilots were having trouble starting one of the engines. She said they brought out a black cylinder and started spraying the engine "to blow out the moisture" in it.
She said her husband texted her from the plane that "it didn't bode well" that the pilot had turned off the other engines, left his seat and walked out to check the engine. She said the mechanic told her, "Once they start the engine it will be fine."
A Collings mechanic, Mitchell Melton, survived the crash and was released from the hospital last week.
The pilot Ernest McCauley, 75, had 7,300 hours of flight time on the B-17, aiming him the most experienced B-17 pilot in the nation. He had been flying for Wings of Freedom for 20 years. The co-pilot, Michael Foster, 71, had been a volunteer pilot for the Collings Foundation for five years.
McCauley radioed the air traffic controller just five minutes after takeoff to say that the plane was not gaining altitude and there was trouble with the plane's No. 4 engine.
NTSB officials said they have recovered all four of the planes engines for analysis as well as its tail and the instrument panel. They have been taken to a private facility for analysis. NTSB officials also sent fuel samples from one of the engines to a laboratory for testing.
"A fuel sample was able to be recovered from one of the No 3. engine's two fuel tanks. The recovered sample had a visual appearance and smell consistent with 100LL aviation fuel and was absent of debris or water contamination," the NTSB wrote. "(N)one of the airplanes serviced with fuel from the truck before or after the accident airplane, including another airplane operated by the Collings Foundation, reported any anomalies."
The air traffic controller told McCauley to return and use runway 6, but the plane hit the ground about 1,000 feet short of the runway. It crashed at 9:53 a.m.
The plane hit multiple stanchions, veered right over a grassy area and the taxiway and then slammed into the airport's de-icing facility before bursting into flames. It sent dark columns of smoke into the air that could be seen for miles.
The Collings Foundation is one of several across the country that sought and received a special exemption from the FAA to fly the "living history" planes in 2001.
The Foundation recently submitted an application to the FAA to renew that exemption in March 2020.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal has asked the FAA to review the exemptions for vintage planes, as well as how they are maintained, who supervises them and where they fly.
"Not to say these planes need to be grounded, but they do need to be inspected and maintained and repaired with a frequency and intensity that guarantees their air trustworthiness," Blumenthal said.
"There are a great many FAA regulations that apply to private aircraft and commercial aircraft and then there's a gray area applying to these tourist and sightseeing vintage aircraft trips that needs to be looked at."
The planes are not considered commercial planes subject to stricter regulations such as pilots that cannot fly over the age of 65 because even though people pay $450 a seat to fly on it, the money is considered a donation to the foundation.
The crash took place on the third day of a four-day show that offered tours of the vintage aircraft and short flights. The show at Bradley followed ones this year at Groton-New London and Waterbury-Oxford airports. Collings had brought similar shows to Bradley in 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014, state records show.
NTSB officials have said they are investigating whether the plane had engine issues during the air show at Groton-New London a few weeks earlier.
The Connecticut Airport Authority, which runs Bradley and the state's five general aviation airports, was a key player in securing approval for Collings to bring the B-17G "Flying Fortress" to Bradley.
Collings approached TAC-Air, which leases space at Bradley to park and service private aircraft, in early September. TAC-Air then turned to the authority, which must seek permission from the Transportation Security Administration to allow visitors on airport land that is normally a restricted area.
CAA Executive Director Kenneth Dillon said the request from TAC-Air did not raise any red flags, so to block the Collings visit "would have been deemed unreasonable."
"In hindsight, would we have done anything different in this event? No, unfortunately," Dillon said in an interview with The Courant. "There is no information that I had that the Collings Foundation has done anything wrong, that there was anything wrong with that aircraft."
