The National Transportation Safety Board says the pilot should have used instruments instead of visual flight rules in the fog.
By CHASE SQUIRES
Published December 2, 2003
ZEPHYRHILLS - The pilot whose airplane crashed into a house last year on Labor Day weekend, killing him and a passenger, apparently made the mistake of trying to fly in thick fog without the appropriate instruments, federal investigators have concluded.
The National Transportation Safety Board's final report on the Sept. 1, 2002 crash was released last week. There is no evidence of engine malfunctions or anything besides piloting that could have caused the crash, according to the NTSB.
The crash killed pilot James Leroy Rex, 49, and his girlfriend, Carrie Lee Wulf, 38.
According to the NTSB, Rex's unregistered Grumman single-engine plane took off from the Zephyrhills Municipal Airport about 6:35 a.m. the morning of Sept. 1, 2002. It was foggy and dark.
Minutes later, the airplane clipped a few trees in a neighborhood less than a mile from the airport, then slammed into an unoccupied house at 39444 Eighth Ave., setting the house on fire.
Rex and Wulf were both longtime employees at Lakeland Electric, the city-owned power company. Rex was a purchasing agent in charge of buying fuel for the utility, and Wulf worked in the customer service department. Family members at the time of the crash said the two were heading to Pennsylvania for a vacation.
Six weeks after the fatal crash, Wulf's mother sued a Lakeland man, claiming he co-owned the airplane with Rex and failed to maintain it. The suit also blamed Rex, saying he flew in conditions he was not trained for and was negligent.
The lawsuit still is pending in Circuit Court, but no hearings are scheduled and no action has been entered into the file in months.
According to the NTSB, "The probable cause(s) of this accident (are) as follows: The pilot's continued visual flight into instrument conditions (fog), and subsequent collision with a tree and a residence."
"The examination of the airframe and engine failed to disclose evidence of pre-impact failure or malfunction," the investigation notes.
Airport manager Jim Werme said the NTSB's conclusions aren't surprising. Rex flew into conditions that are dangerous for pilots not trained to fly by instruments alone, Werme said.
