Crash Wittnesses, Collegedale
By Glenn Bolin
WDEF-TV News 12
Dec 2, 2004 6:54 PM EST


Marian Hardwick, 42:11 "I hear and see the airplanes everyday that is nothing unusual. but today. I heard a strange noise that was a little out of the ordinary. That I have never heard. I heard something that caught my attention. and I said what in the world was that.

Marian Hardwick a letter carrier in Collegedale explains what she heard while delivering mail on pinehill road.

Moments before a small twin engine airplane crashed in a field just a short distance from homes on her route.

42:52 "I guess I was just trying to look up to see if it was a plane. But I didn't see anything. So I just brushed it off. And then a few min later there was the sirens. And I could hear them coming from every where."

What Marian heard was a Cessna 421b like this one experiencing in some type of trouble.

Several witnesses heard noises and even saw the plane struggling.

Many more heard the crash.

Nancy Sawyer, Wittness 30:59 "I heard a big crash. Of some kind I was in the back bed room of my house and I went outside and I didn't see anything.

All that was visible at the crash site was a plume of white smoke coming from the woodline and lots of emergency equipment on the scene.

Nancy Sawyer, Wittness 31:45 "It was very loud. I realy can't describe it. I just knew it something had happened and it sounded like it was just outside my house. That's how loud it was."

In collegedale, Glenn Bolin, News 12.

Survivor of Tenn. Plane Crash Goes Home

BILL POOVEY

Associated Press

COLLEGEDALE, Tenn. - The only survivor of an airplane crash that killed four Seventh-day Adventist Church officials and the pilot was released from the hospital Friday.

A witness said the private twin-engine plane "fell out of the sky like a brick" in the crash. Only the co-pilot, Jim Huff, survived.

Huff did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

Hamilton County Sheriff John Cupp said federal investigators were examining the wreckage Friday, one day after the plane crashed in woods just after takeoff from the airport in Collegedale, 15 miles northeast of Chattanooga.

The group, members of the Calhoun, Ga.-based Georgia-Cumberland Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, had been meeting at Southern Adventist University in Collegedale and was traveling to Knoxville for meetings with Seventh-day Adventist pastors and other conference presidents.

Church officials identified the victims as Dave Cress, 47, the conference's president; Jim Frost, 53, the vice president; Jamie Arnall, 29, director of communication; and Clay Farwell, 67, assistant to Cress. John Laswell, the pilot, also died.

The Rev. David Graves, a Methodist minister, said he was working in his yard when he heard a sputtering engine overhead.

"It couldn't have been more than 150 feet up. It was low. It just shocked me," he said. "It banked to the left at about a 20-degree angle and just fell out of the sky like a brick."

The plane crashed about 500 yards from Graves' home and was only smoldering at first. He called 911 and then saw Huff, who appeared to have cuts and other injuries, walking away from the wreck.

Graves said the plane exploded when Huff was about 150 yards away.

Officials with the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board did not immediately return calls for comment Friday.

A Survivors Statement

The following is an edited account of the Tennessee plane crash reprinted with permission of co-pilot James Huff.

On December 2, 2004, John Laswell asked me to join him on a flight from Collegedale, Tennessee, to Knoxville, then to Calhoun, Georgia, and back to Chattanooga. John asked that I arrive at the Collegedale Airport at 12:30 P.M. because the passengers were due to arrive at 1:00 P.M. The passengers arrived at the airport at approximately 1:10 P.M. We loaded a little bit of baggage and boarded the aircraft.

The aircraft was started and we taxied to runway 03 for takeoff. All of the pre-takeoff checks were satisfactory to John. John applied full power and even though I was an ATP (Airline Transport Pilot) rated passenger and not required on the flight, I ran some cross checks of the engine gauges and everything seemed normal as we began the takeoff roll. We started our takeoff roll at approximately 1:15 p.m. The takeoff roll seemed normal and uneventful and I made standard call outs to the pilot throughout the takeoff and liftoff. We established a normal climb with climb power.

Approximately 200-300 feet in the air the right engine lost power. John lowered the nose of the aircraft to maintain flying air speed and simultaneously it appeared that he was moving fuel pump switches. The airplane maintained flying speed, but we began to slightly descend in order to maintain the proper flying speed because the right engine was not yet feathered.

We descended into a grove of trees just short of a field at approximately our 11 to 12 o'clock position. Just before colliding with the trees I observed the right propeller go into feather position and stop. The aircraft collided with the trees and I stayed conscious as the aircraft broke apart. After coming to a full stop I was still in my seat which was still inside the cockpit remains. The pilot, to my left, was slumped over and appeared to be dead. There was plane wreckage and burning debris all around and I did not observe any of the other bodies anywhere.

I stood up and stepped to my right and began exiting the crash site. I came to a fence surrounding a horse pasture, jumped over the fence and ran across the pasture, and met a gentleman from a large house running toward the crash site. I told him to call 911 because there had been a plane crash, and asked him to open the gate to let me out of the pasture. He opened the gate and I proceeded to a house where there was a lady on a deck. I also told her there had been a plane crash and to call 911. I stated that I was in pain and then collapsed on the grass in the back yard.

Somewhere between when I left the horse pasture and collapsed in the back yard, which was approximately 1 1/2 - 2 minutes after I left the crash site, there were three loud explosions, apparently the remaining fuel tanks were exploding.

Next thing I remember paramedic crews arrived and began treating me. At that point I was transported to the hospital and do not know any further details about the rescue operations.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released several reports on this accident, and is expected to realease one more.

You may find the latest report at:

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20041207X01930&key=1

In this report, the NTSB says:

"The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:

The pilot's improper identification of a partial loss of engine power on initial takeoff climb resulting in a collision with trees and the ground. A factor was a partial failure of the left engine starter adapter due to overload."

NOTE: Earlier the NTSB had released a finding of fact document. That document was a devestating report of maintance problems with the aircraft. You can access that report at the above URL and then by clicking on: "Full Narative Available"