Pilot couldn’t see lights in Clearwater plane crash
TAMPA — The pilot of a plane that crashed into a Clearwater mobile home park last month could not see the runway at nearby Clearwater Airpark even though the runway lights were on, according to a preliminary report released Tuesday.
He also reported a fire before his final transmission, federal investigators said.
Two people at the airpark told investigators that Jemin Patel broadcast on the radio that he could not find the airport that evening, Feb. 1, and asked them to turn on the runway lights, which were already on from a plane that had just landed, according to the report, released by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Those witnesses also told investigators that, after Patel made a second request for the lights to be turned on, the pilot-controlled runway lighting “was changed to the highest intensity,” the report states. Both those witnesses then heard Patel announce his plane was on fire.
Shortly after, the single-engine Beechcraft V35B crashed into the Bayside Waters mobile home park, killing Patel and two people who were inside a home in the park, Martha Parry, 86, and Mary Ellen Pender, 55.
The Tampa Bay Times reported last week that Clearwater Airpark is unusually dark and difficult to find at night in a sea of city lights. Like many general aviation airports, its runway lights are off until approaching pilots activate them by tapping the button they use to talk on the radio frequency.
But Clearwater is unlike most other public general aviation airports in that it doesn’t have a rotating beacon, a common feature that serves as a kind of lighthouse for planes at night. Fixed atop a tower, it can help pilots detect a runway from as far as 20 miles out.
Clearwater officials discussed installing a beacon as early as 2017, according to video of city meetings. Four years ago, a consultant recommended installing one before the end of 2020. It hasn’t happened.
Marine and Aviation director Michael MacDonald said he expects a beacon to be installed next year as part of a series of upgrades initiated after hiring FlyUSA in 2022 to run the airpark, the first operator change in 20 years.
Problems seeing runway, then a fire
According to the report, Patel departed from Vero Beach Municipal Airport about 6:09 p.m. with a flight plan to head to Clearwater Airpark, a city-owned facility at 1000 Hercules Ave. The report notes that it was a clear night, with visibility of about 10 miles.
At about 7 p.m., traffic controllers advised Patel to operate under visual flight rules, a set of regulations that dictate the minimum conditions required for a pilot to operate an aircraft visually.
“According to two individuals who were at (the airpark), the pilot broadcast on the common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF) that he could not find the airport and asked them to turn on the runway lights which were already on from an airplane that had just landed,” the report states. “They also stated that after the pilot requested a second time to turn the runway lights on, the pilot-controlled runway lighting was changed to the highest intensity.”
Both people at the park then heard the pilot announce he had a “fire.” The airplane’s location at that time was not determined.
Patel proceeded west of the Clearwater Airpark and then turned to a northwesterly heading, nearly parallel to the airpark’s Runway 34. Patel continued northwest and flew north of the airpark. At 7:03 p.m., he turned to a southeasterly heading. At 7:05 p.m., Patel was west of the airpark.
Soon after, Patel stated, “nine five lima” and “coming to Albert Whitted, I can’t see the other airport,” a reference to the airport in downtown St. Petersburg. The controller advised Patel that he was 1 mile south of Clearwater Airpark and asked if he could turn to heading 180 degrees and to maintain his present altitude.
At 7:06 p.m., Patel told the controller, “I’m losing engine.” The controller asked Patel if he could see St Pete-Clearwater International Airport, which was 3 miles ahead of his position at that point, and told him that there were runaways available for him there. Patel did not respond and there were no further transmissions from him.
A pilot flying nearby reported seeing the airplane in a 30- to 40-degree nose-low descent that he described as “like an uncontrolled descent.” He added that while the airplane was descending, he saw a “very bright light” descending very fast to impact.
Another witness who was a passenger in a car northwest of the crash site reported seeing the airplane flying ahead of their position from the right to the left, or west to east. She said she did not hear any sound and reported seeing a “fireball” or something on fire while airborne before the impact. She did not identify the object as an airplane at that time. She described the fire as a round fireball with a white cone in the front portion.
The pilot who was flying nearby observed the impact and reported it to air traffic control. Multiple videos from commercial businesses west of the crash site depicted a light descending steeply with sounds associated with engine operation, followed by a fireball.
Preliminary safety board reports do not address possible causes of crashes. In general, the agency tries to complete an investigation and determine a probable cause of a crash within 12 to 24 months.
Records show that in early 2022, the Federal Aviation Administration proposed an airworthiness directive regarding a fiber oil gasket used in engines like the one in the Beechcraft V35B after the component was found in two planes that crashed from oil starvation. Similar to a recall, the directive required owners of planes with that gasket to replace it with a sturdier copper one, at a cost of about $250. That directive went into effect in October.
In one of the crashes that prompted the directive, a pilot described “white vapor” escaping from the engine and “black smoke filling (the) cockpit,” according to a National Transportation Safety Board report.
The Federal Aviation Administration’s airworthiness records on major repairs and alterations to Patel’s plane date from 1986 to 2020. They don’t include any updates about replacing the gasket in question, though it’s unclear whether Patel would have been required to notify the agency of a repair that minor.
A Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson referred further questions to the directive itself, which says the part must be replaced within 50 flight hours.
Night flights but no beacon
Of the 24 general aviation airports open to the public in eight
West Central Florida counties, Clearwater Airpark is one of only five without a beacon, according to aeronautical charts that pilots use to assess airports’ capabilities.
But it’s the only one without a beacon that has night flights in a dense, residential area where the margin for error is small. Of the four other public airports with no beacon in the region, two are not open after dark, one sits in rural Palmetto and the other averages 10 flights a day in Polk County.
Bruce Kaiser, a private pilot who has flown from Clearwater Airpark for 25 years, said that, from the sky, the runway can get lost in the lights of the city. At other airports, he said, the rotating lights of a beacon are clearly distinguishable from streetlights.
“We’ve landed at strange airports that we’ve never been to at night and never had a problem, and then we’d get home to our home field in Clearwater and can’t find the damn thing,” Kaiser said.
Retired commercial pilot Patrick Keenan said he was attempting to land at Clearwater Airpark around 8 p.m. four days after Patel’s crash and had trouble seeing the runway lights.
Pilots preparing to land tap their microphone button three times to turn the lights on, five times to brighten them and seven times to reach full brightness, said William Holtz, president of FlyUSA.
But on this night, Keenan said he “couldn’t see them at all” after three taps. Five clicks and he “could just barely see the lights.” When he did seven clicks, “the lights finally came up to what I would expect,” he said.
MacDonald, the city marine and aviation director, and FlyUSA CEO Barry Shevlin said installation of the beacon is a priority. But first they must complete a survey and geotechnical study of the park to accurately plan for the beacon, an “instrument approach” to allow for GPS facilitated landings, asphalt repaving and construction of a new terminal and corporate hangars.
“We assumed (after the crash) there would be questions about why there’s no beacon there,” Shevlin said. “Certainly we’d like to accelerate getting that, but we do have some dependencies.”