NTSB: Excessive speed caused 2002 Care Flight crash
By Associated Press
Published March 6, 2004
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Excessive speed was the probable cause of the fatal crash of an ambulance plane from Florida while landing here in August 2002, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. The crash killed a patient from Fort Myers and seriously injured four others aboard, including the pilot, co-pilot and a nurse, all from Pinellas County.
According to the agency, the plane's captain applied thrust while landing, which limited the effectiveness of the plane's brakes and caused the plane to overrun the runway at Blue Grass Airport.
The captain's inability to deploy the thrust reversers, for reasons undetermined, also was a factor in the crash, according to the NTSB.
The Lear 25CXR, operated by Care Flight International of Clearwater, was transporting patient Louise Babb, 77, of Marco Island, and her husband John, 76, from Fort Myers when it slid off a runway, plunged down a hill and plowed into a coal truck on U.S. 60 on the afternoon of Aug. 30, 2002.
Mrs. Babb was killed and her husband was critically injured. Also seriously injured were pilot Miles Lansing, 40, of the St. Petersburg-Clearwater area; co-pilot Jim Hensel, 39, of Clearwater; and critical care nurse Diana Burgess, 41, of Seminole. According to the agency's report, the plane landed 1,000 to 1,500 feet past the landing threshold of its assigned 7,003-foot runway.
Miles suffered a concussion. Hensel, a captain in the Safety Harbor Fire Department, suffered back and neck fractures. Burgess suffered a punctured lung and severe leg injuries.
