Deadly plane crash likely caused by bird strike

After nearly six months of investigating the cause of a crash last October that took the lives of two UND students, there is, according to university officials, "clear evidence" that a bird strike involving two or more Canadian geese is to blame.

While the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), an independent governmental agency in charge of investigating aircraft related accidents, has not yet released an official, factual report as to the cause of the crash, evidence found at the crash site as well as information downloaded from onboard computers would suggest that the twin-engine Piper Seminole aircraft carrying Annette Klosterman and Adam Ostapenko crashed on Oct. 23, 2007 after coming into contact with the large birds.

"We have found clear evidence of a bird strike," said Dana Siewert, director of Aviation Safety at the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences. "We did find DNA on the left wing that is clear evidence of a [Canadian goose] bird strike."

He continued that a similar substance was found on the tail portion of the aircraft but that evidence had not been tested and therefore could not be determined conclusively that it was of the same nature.

According to Frank Argenziano, assistant director of Aviation Safety, investigators at the scene as well as in the aftermath found many signs in addition to the DNA evidence that would point to an unusual event occurring during the flight.

The stabilator which is located on the tail section of the airplane and controls the up and downward movement was "deflected 90 degrees upward at the crease-point; that would have affected the ability of the pilots to control the aircraft," Argenziano said. "In this particular case, what was looked at was how fast certain things changed in terms of altitude and airspeed. There was a rapid change on the performance of the aircraft in a matter of seconds … looking at the accident, it is highly unlikely that [the pilots] would have instigated a maneuver like that. If the tail deflects or bends like it did, then that would have had a major affect on the controllability of the aircraft."

While Tim Sorrensen, air safety investigator for the NTSB as well as the chief investigator on the crash was unable to comment on specifics of the accident, he did say that he and his team, in connection with officials from UND did a "thorough review of the airplane and the engines and did not find any anomalies that would be consistent with a pre-impact failure. Prior to the accident, [the pilots] had been in communication with air traffic control and there were no indications to the controllers that there were any anomalies with the flight."

He added that the findings still need to be reported, reviewed by multiple levels and then approved by the board before they are officially released to the public.

Releasing the information

While no factual report has been released by the NTSB, university officials announced their findings on the crash several weeks ago to students and flight instructors involved in the flight program.

"There was a concern about the flight department," said Sorrensen. "So we arranged to have that information released to the school."

According to Argenziano, even if a bird strike was not the cause, UND Aerospace decided to release information to students to educate them and warn them of the possibility of an impact with migratory birds.

"We know for a fact that there was a bird strike," he said. "Knowing that, even if it wasn't the cause of the accident, we want to make sure that the students know that it is a hazard, especially now with migratory birds flying throughout the area."

The school held a safety meeting for all of the flight instructors to discuss with them the cause of the crash with the intent that they would pass on the message to their students.

"The flight instructors were briefed because they are employees," said Jeremy Roesler, chief fixed wing flight instructor. "It was a very thorough presentation, going into the care and detail that went into the investigation … we gave [instructors] information regarding specifics … as well as gave some guidance in terms of avoidance."

However, several instructors reported that they felt uncomfortable talking to their students about the accident causing many students to find out the information through internet forums and through friends and peers.

In addition, several students said that they were shown PowerPoint presentations in their aviation classes provided by the school, which gave specific information regarding the accident including airspeeds and altitudes, information that has not yet been released by the NTSB.

The presentation also had several photos from the crash site and included detailed information that students were told was downloaded from the aircraft after the crash.

According to one student who asked to remain anonymous, part of the presentation included a slide that showed graphical data showing the recorded altitude, speed, pitch, heading as well as other flight characteristics in the moments leading up to the accident.

He said that while there are no black boxes on the aircraft, the Avidyne glass-cockpit equipped airplanes have the capability of storing flight memory of what the aircraft was doing leading up to the accident and that information can be downloaded from the Multi-Function Display (MFD).

The student also noted that the presentation said that it took only two to three seconds for the airplane to transition from level flight to an uncontrolled downward and inverted spin and that the entire incident lasted about 25 seconds.

"The reason we discussed this preliminary information with students and the aviation faculty was for safety purposes," Siewert said. "Because there was clear evidence of a bird strike, we wanted to make sure that we were providing information to flight students to allow them to devise a risk management plan that would allow them to minimize potential bird strikes."