NTSB releases initial report on Augusta plane crash a week ago

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – The National Transportation Safety Board has released its initial report of a plane crash that killed a pilot near Daniel Field a week ago.

The report reaches no conclusion about the cause of the crash that killed Jason McKenzie – and isn’t meant to.

The first report is just a statement of facts, while the report on possible causes of the crash won’t come for a year to two years.

This new report doesn’t tell us much more than we already knew about the incident at Hillcrest Avenue at Belmount Drive.

It says the single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza A36 departed Runway 5 at Daniel Field at 7:12 a.m. last Thursday, proceeded on the runway heading for about half a nautical mile, where a left turn was initiated.

The airplane continued in the left turn, at about 200 to 300 feet above the ground, for about 30 seconds and crashed into the top of mature oak trees in a residential area, severing the outboard half of the left wing.

The wing section remained lodged in a tree, about 60 feet above the ground.

The airplane continued and impacted the front yard of a residence, coming to rest upright.

There, it burst into flame at about 7:13 a.m.

READ THE REPORT:

Many are calling McKenzie a hero for avoiding deaths and injuries on the ground, even though he died in the crash.

Investigators took pieces of the airplane to a hangar elsewhere in Georgia, where they’ll put it back together and try to determine what happened.

In addition to physical evidence, investigators will be looking at flights the plane made in the 72 hours before the crash that may indicate whether anything has gone wrong.

We looked at the flight records, which show the plane had made several trips in the days before the crash, including:

• To Greensboro, N.C., on April 24 and back to Daniel Field on Saturday.
• To Southern Pines, N.C., and back on April 23.
• To Sevierville, Tenn., and back on April 20.
• To Thomson and back on April 18.

We know the Beechcraft Bonanza A36 was manufactured in 1999 and owned by WBME, a limited-liability corporation based in Warrenville, according to government records.

The plane had four cabin windows on each side, starboard rear double doors and seats for six. Two of those seats were in the cockpit and four were in the cabin – configured as two rows of two seats each, with the rows facing each other, according to photos of the plane posted online. It had a small cargo area in the rear.

Its certificate was valid until 2030.

Equipped with a three-blade propeller and a 300-horsepower engine, the model was introduced in 1968 and is still being made by the Beechcraft division of Textron – a company that has a plant in Augusta.

WBME was created in October 2023 and the plane was registered to it the next month. The previous owner was in California, so this was a new plane for the owner, though it was made 25 years ago.

The plane’s first flight under WBME ownership was in February of this year.

Beyond witness statements and video, the NTSB will scrutinize:

• Recordings of any air traffic control communications.
• Aircraft maintenance records.
• Weather forecasts and actual weather and lighting conditions around the time of the accident.
• A 72-hour background of the pilot.
• Electronic devices.

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