NTSB: Pilot error caused Blackwater plane crash in Afghanistan

RALEIGH, N.C. --Pilot error caused the crash of an airplane owned by a sister company of Moyock-based Blackwater USA in central Afghanistan two years ago, according to a National Transportation Safety Board report.

A Connecticut man and four others were killed. A sixth who survived the impact but died while awaiting rescue might have been saved if the company had followed proper procedures, the report released Tuesday said.

The CASA 212 twin-engine turboprop was owned by Presidential Airways, a Florida company doing business as Blackwater Aviation, and was flying under a contract with the U.S. Air Force when it crashed on Nov. 27, 2004.

The aircraft carried three crew members, three Army passengers and military freight when it took off from Bagram, headed for Farah. Its wreckage was located a day later, 25 miles north of the expected route, but bad weather prevented rescuers from reaching the site for two more days.

The report blamed Presidential for "failure to require its flight crews to file and fly a defined route," and for not providing oversight to make sure its crews followed company policies and Pentagon and FAA safety regulations.

The chief operating officer and general counsel for Prince Group, the parent company of Blackwater and Presidential, said Tuesday that the report was erroneous and politically motivated.

Joseph E. Schmitz said the report was intended to cover for the military's failures, though he declined to describe those failures. He said Presidential would ask the NTSB to reconsider.

Some of the victims' families filed a federal lawsuit against Presidential last year in Florida, saying the plane lacked basic safety equipment.

The aircraft's flight recorder showed that pilot Noel English guessed when deciding which route to take over the mountainous terrain, unwittingly turning into a box canyon that was closed at one end by tall ridges.

"I hope I'm goin' in the right valley," English said after takeoff. "I'm just gonna go up this one."

By the time English realized the danger, he was unable to fully turn the aircraft and it slammed into a mountain wall at more than 14,000 feet.

"This was squarely the pilot's fault, and he's the responsibility of Presidential. They hired and trained him," said Bob Spohrer, a Jacksonville, Fla., attorney for passengers' families. "There's a saying in the military: You plan your flight and you fly your plan. They didn't do either."

The NTSB report said the inexperience of English, a native of Emory, Miss., and co-pilot Loren Hammer of Redmond, Ore., and their apparent failure to use oxygen at the high altitude may have contributed to the accident.

English and Hammer died in the crash, as did Lt. Col. Mike McMahon of West Hartford, Conn.; Chief Warrant Officer Travis W. Grogan of Moore, Okla.; and flight mechanic Melvin Rowe of Tontagony, Ohio.

Rescuers discovered Spc. Harley D. Miller of Spokane, Wash., survived the impact long enough to apparently leave the aircraft at least twice to smoke a cigarette.

His body, clothed only in pants and shoes, was found in the open cargo area in the rear of the plane beside an unrolled sleeping bag, the report said.

Miller ultimately died from crash injuries, the cold and the thin air at the crash site, which was at nearly 15,000 feet, the report said. Rescuers could have arrived in time to save him if the company had proper procedures for tracking aircraft and communicating with them, the NTSB said.

Blackwater has been one of the leading suppliers of military contractors during the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

It is also facing a lawsuit over the death of four contractors whose bodies were burned and mutilated after they were killed in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004. The families of those men said the company cut corners with its contracts, failing to provide them with armored vehicles, weapons and enough manpower to do their job safely.

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Information from: The News & Observer, http://www.newsobserver.com