Hendrick crash report
The Hendrick Motorsports plane, which crashed killing 10 people prior to the Nextel Cup race at Martinsville last month, missed its approach to Blue Ridge Airport and then collided with a mountain, according to a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board
The report indicates that the Beech 200 King Air, which was carrying four members of Nextel Cup team owner Rick Hendrick's family on board at the time, was not carrying a global positioning system certified for instrument only flight and that it did not have a ground proximity warning. The plane is reported to have failed to immediately climb in bad weather.
The report does not establish a cause for the crash but records that witnesses claim the mountain was hidden behind thick fog.
The NTSB claims the plane failed to take the appropriate action for missing the approach (which is to bear right and climb to 2,600 ft) and instead descended to 1,800 ft. The pilots were advised by air traffic control to climb immediately to 4,400 ft, but there was no response.
The Hendrick plane crashed into trees on the south-east slope of Bull Mountain, destroying the cockpit on impact. The fuselage is then reported to have been consumed by fire.
At least 20 other inbound flights decided against landing at Blue Ridge and diverted to Danville Regional Airport because of the weather.
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