NTSB: Pilot fatigue, inexperience likely causes of crash

Dublin, Ohio, family among 6 killed in 2016 tragedy.

Pilot fatigue CLEVELAND — and inexperience likely contributed to the 2016 plane crash in Lake Erie that killed six people who flew to Cleveland to attend a Cavaliers game, the National Transportation Safety Board said.

Pilot John Fleming, 45, of Dublin — the CEO of Columbus-based Superior Beverage Company — failed to put the plane in autopilot during takeoff from Burke Lakefront Airport, the NTSB said Monday in its final report on the Dec. 29, 2016, plane crash.

The plane quickly crashed into Lake Erie. Fleming; his wife, Sue, 46; his sons Jack, 15, and Andrew, 14; family friend Brian Casey, 50; and Casey’s daughter Megan, 19, died in the crash.

John Fleming had been awake about 17 hours before attempting to fly back to Columbus after the game, the NTSB said.

The report says NTSB investigators found no issues with the plane, a Cessna 525.

The six people killed in the crash flew into Burke from the Ohio State University Airport in Columbus. They went to a Cavaliers game to celebrate John’s Fleming’s birthday, and returned to the airport after the game.

Fleming was cleared for takeoff about 11 p.m. The airplane quickly ascended past its allotted regulation of 2,000 feet above sea level, so an airport flight director gave it two warnings, the report says.

The plane was also given seven “pull-up” warnings as it descended and crashed about two miles off the shores of Lake Erie, the report says.

The plane’s enhanced ground proximity warning system sounded an excessive bank alarm, along with a “sink rate” warning before the crash, the report says.

The plane’s voice recorder picked up Fleming saying “614 sierra bravo” twice to the air traffic controller. But he likely did not push the talk button on his radio because the air traffic controller never received the messages, the report says.

Fleming flew 372.9 hours in a plane he previously owned, a Cessna 510 Mustang, NTSB records say. But he only flew 56.5 hours in his newly-purchased Cessna 525, including only 8.5 hours as pilot-in-command, the NTSB report said.

Fleming was certified to fly the Cessna 525 only 21 days before the crash, the NTSB said previously.

Investigators noted that John Fleming likely attempted to put the plane into autopilot but failed to do so, which caused the quick ascent and ensuing crash.

The two types of planes Fleming owned have sightly different display panels, with the autopilot button in slightly different locations. So Fleming may have mistakenly believed he hit the autopilot button, the report says.

Visibility was poor at the time the plane crashed because it was dark during takeoff, so Fleming may have become disoriented during the short flight, the report also says.

The plane obliterated upon impact. Divers searched Lake Erie for three weeks but recovered body parts for only three of the victims — John Fleming, Jack Fleming and Brian Casey. Seven months after the crash, a fisherman found a body part for one of the victims in Willowick.

The bodies of Sue Fleming, Andrew Fleming and Megan Casey were never found.

The voice recorder was found in Lake Erie more than a week after the crash.

No toxicology reports were completed because of the limited amount of remains found during the search of Lake Erie, the NTSB said.