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22 August 1994 |
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The Chairman |
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RE: PA-23 water retention problems, |
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Mr. Chairman: |
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Our past letters to you and to the FAA have not produced the intended purpose, i.e. the elimination of water in the fuel tanks which currently can neither be detected nor eliminated by the normal preflight procedures and can and does become fatal shortly after take off. |
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The crash of PA-23 N54746 (NTSB Identification: ATL91FA142 [SumpThis]) on 26 July 1991 is a perfect example of the type of accident that we have been attempting to prevent for the last nine years. |
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The investigation of this accident was shockingly inadequate. You have been advised of our findings in this respect. You were invited to send a representative to Long Island, New York to view the evidence of this double engine failure accident. You declined to do so. |
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The FAA did send a Mr. Melvin Taylor from the Atlanta FAA office to Long Island. Our meeting with him and a Mr. Lovell from Kansas City took place on 24 May 1994. The meeting was a waste of time and money for us and the taxpayers. Mr. Taylor may fill his assigned job in Atlanta, but he was and is totally incompetent to view wreckage and draw conclusions therefrom. His conduct and utterances on site and his written trip report are ample proof of his lack of experience in crash investigation. |
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His trip report does make one interesting revelation. He states that the FAA determined that 15 ounces of water could be retained in a fuel cell…..even after a normal preflight. This is more than we found in our tests but such a finding was supportive. The FAA never did inform us of the amount of water they determined could be retained in the after inboard corner of these tanks. If the FAA is correct in that conclusion, the aircraft is obviously not certifiable. |
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We realize that Mr. Taylor's trip report is his assessment and nothing else. However, since you decided not to send a competent investigator to view wreckage which was not seen by your original investigator, Mr. Sasser, you would have no other information on this viewing except for the trip report of Mr. Taylor. |
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By that token, the Board has now been misinformed not only by the original investigation, but you are now being conned by a man who admitted on scene in Long Island that he was not there to determine the cause of the accident, but then proceeded to conclude that we were wrong in our analysis. |
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We are both experienced accident investigators. Our education, experience and record speaks for itself. We do not fear judgment by our peers, but we demand to be judged by no less than our peers. We take umbrage with any opinions of our capabilities arrived at by those who do not know a carburetor from a fuel injection system, those who cannot look at a propeller and know that it is feathered, those who cannot recognize corrosion in a fuel distributor, and so on, and so on, and so on. In an attempt to satisfy Mr. Taylor as to the position of the propeller blades when the aircraft descended through the trees and crashed, we offered to take the propellers to a qualified propeller shop for a tear down analysis. He declined the offer. |
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Mr. Chairman, this accident is going to be described in detail to a jury in New York. The NTSB report will be shown to the jury. We will then be forced to demonstrate to this panel that the NTSB was incompetent and negligent in this investigation and failed to correct this injustice when advised of the errors and omissions of their investigator. |
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This pains us deeply. Confidence in government agencies is now at an all time low, and we do not wish to add to that lack of confidence. The newspapers, radio and TV will be involved because of the publicity already generated by this particular case. This is the bell weather case against Piper outside of the protection of their bankruptcy. The NTSB report should be a shining example of a competent and thorough investigation. We would be pleased to stand before a court and agree with such a document. |
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As it now stands we cannot do so. |
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We ask you to re-examine this accident with an open mind and experienced, competent investigators. Send us someone with the qualifications of Mr. Charles O. Miller or Mr. Gerard M. Bruggink to view and weigh the evidence we have to present. It appears that the FAA has intentionally tried to bias this case and exclude any further action by sending the wrong man to Long Island who was obviously briefed as to his conclusions before he left Atlanta. |
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With such treatment and after nine years of trying to convince the FAA that this problem kills people our patience is wearing thin. |
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The NTSB has supported our stand in the past on these problems with the PA-23. Now that there is a dual fatality case which perfectly points out the design deficiency on which we agree, you, as an organization, remain silent. Why? Why do you abandon the cause at this propitious time. Together, and with a little help from our friends in Congress, we might get this problem corrected and save lives. Alone, we can't seem to make a dent in this intractable FAA. They pass the problem from one office to another, they demonstrate organizational paralysis, and when they were finally forced to look the horse in the mouth, they did the wrong thing and then caved in to pressure from the AOPA and canceled the whole project. Nothing, absolutely NOTHING, productive was or has been done to cure the basic problem. And now, Doctor Calabro and his wife Ruth are dead. More will certainly die and your investigators may never discover why. |
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There are technical problems in general aviation aircraft that can be corrected, and some of them are killing people. They should be eliminated as they are discovered and recognized. We will advise you of such problems as we discover them. Advising the FAA has become an exercise in frustration. |
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What next? |
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Respectfully,
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| ASMC internal note: |
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22 Aug 94 |
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Copies of our letter to NTSB dated 22 August-- |
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Faxed to: |
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Senator Bob Packwood |
| 2. | Paul Alexander (NTSB) (202) 382-6654 | |
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Copy hand carried to the local MFR office of Rep. Bob Smith. | |
| 4. | C. O. Miller | |
| 5. | Gerard Bruggink (29Aug 94) | |
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6. |
Called Paul Alexander on 6 Oct 94--(202) 382-6828--talked to his secretary (formerly from LA office). Reply has been written. We should receive it in a week or so. |
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