Report: Plane That Crashed Was Inspected, Pilot Certified

The preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board on the Dec. 20 fatal plane crash on Route 287 indicates Pilot Jeffrey Buckalew had most recently received flight certification in July.

The report, which contains only factual information found by the NTSB, also indicates the 2005 Socata TBM 700 airplane had been inspected in late July, having accumulated 702 flying hours.

Buckalew had been flying from Teterboro Airport to Atlanta with his wife, two young children, business associate, and a dog . The entire investigation is expected to take between six and 12 months, officials have said.

The complete preliminary report, from www.NTSB.gov:

This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. On December 20, 2011, about 1005 eastern standard time, a Socata TBM 700, N731CA, collided with terrain following an in-flight loss of aircraft control near Morristown, New Jersey. The airplane was registered to Cool Stream LLC and was operated by the pilot. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and an instrument flight rules flight plan was filed for the flight from Teterboro, New Jersey (TEB) to Atlanta, Georgia (PDK). The personal flight was conducted under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The airplane sustained substantial damage. The certificated private pilot and four passengers were fatally injured. The flight originated from TEB at 0950.

A preliminary review of recorded radar and voice communications revealed that the pilot was in communication with the Federal Aviation Administration, New York Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC). While flying at 17,000 feet mean sea level (MSL) the pilot reported that he was in icing conditions. The pilot requested a climb, and the flight was subsequently cleared to flight level (FL) 200. The aircraft reached a maximum altitude of 17,900 feet and then began to descend. Radar and radio contact with N731CA was lost about 1005.

The airplane impacted a wooded median on Interstate Highway 287, about 1 mile south of Morristown. Several sections of the airplane, including the propeller assembly, came to rest in a wooded area on the east side of the northbound lanes. A post-crash fire was evident in the highway median, where the fuselage came to rest. The outboard section of the right wing and several sections of the empennage were found about 0.25 miles southwest of the fuselage, in a residential area.

The pilot held a private pilot certificate with ratings for airplane single-engine land and instrument airplane. He reported a total flight experience of 1,400 hours on his latest second-class medical certificate application, dated July 14, 2011.

The airplane was manufactured in 2005 and equipped with a Pratt and Whitney Canada PT6A-64 turbo-prop engine. The most recent annual inspection was performed on July 27, 2011. At that time, the airplane had accumulated approximately 702.0 total flight hours. The last logbook entry was recorded on November 18, 2011, at an aircraft total time of 724.6 hours.

The wreckage was recovered to a storage facility, where a detailed examination will be performed NTSB.