WWII Bomber Crash: FAA Grounds Collings' Living History Flights

WINDSOR LOCKS, CT — On October 2, 2019, a WWII B-17G bomber crash-landed at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks killing five passengers and two crew members of the 13 on board.

The Federal Aviation Administration Wednesday grounded all Collings Foundation ‘living history’ flights ruling it didn’t train the flight crew chief and lacked a “commitment to safety.”

In its report, the FAA said the Stowe, MA-based aviation group "has not been operating in compliance” with federal rules. It found that it did not take seriously its safety management system program,” and said that allowing Collings to continue its living history flights “would not be in the public interest and would adversely affect safety…”

Immediately after the deadly crash, Collings suspended its flights, but asked supporters and living history aficionados to contact federal authorities to lobby for the continuation of the flights.
The foundation said the Wings of Freedom Tour has "touched the lives of millions” and asked supporters to “let federal agencies know that the (living history flights) program is important to you and other American citizens as an educational tool," the foundation wrote, adding links to the FAA regulations public comments webpage.

The FAA’s living history exemption program allows vintage warplanes that meet certain qualifications to take civilian passengers on flights.

Wednesday, the FAA ordered Collings to stop the flights.

The FAA said although it did not seek comment on Collings’ request to continue its flights, the agency got more than 1,500 comments of support from people who “cited the historical and sentimental value of allowing living history flights to continue.” But the FAA said others “strongly urged the FAA to not renew ...because of safety concerns regarding the operations Collings has conducted.”

What the FAA investigation found

The FAA said that while Collings “produced some training records for maintenance personnel and pilots, the evidence indicates that Collings did not train the crew chief who was onboard.” The FAA rules require that crew chiefs be assigned to every passenger flight aboard the B-17, B-25, and B-24. And they must be trained.

“In an interview with the FAA on March 2, 2020, the crew chief verified that he received no initial training and was unaware of basic information concerning operations under the exemption. Instead, he only received on-the-job training. This lack of training indicates Collings failed to fulfill the terms” of its FAA permission to fly.

In addition, the FAA said that, “notable maintenance discrepancies existed with the B-17G, yet the Collings Director of Maintenance signed inspection records—dated as recently as September 23, 2019—indicating no findings of discrepancies. No records or evidence of the completion of periodic audits exist with regard to this aircraft. In addition, the pilot in command of the B-17G was also the Director of Maintenance; as a result, Collings did not have a structure to ensure adequate oversight of his decisions to conduct passenger-carrying operations such as the October 2 flight. This indicates Collings lacked a safety culture when operating the B-17G.”

The FAA said inspection of the plane's engine “revealed problems with the cylinders. As a result of these findings and other information, the FAA questions whether the engines were inspected adequately.”

Read the full report here:

FAA Collings Decision by Ellyn Santiago on Scribd

The lives lost

It took days to identify the dead as authorities said the crash scene was so gruesome some of the victims' identities were merely presumed because of the difficulty in identifying bodies.
Killed were:

• Pilot Ernest 'Mac' McCauley, 75, of Long Beach, California
• Co-pilot Michael Foster, 71, of Jacksonville, Florida
• Gary Mazzone, 66, of Broad Brook, Connecticut
• James Roberts, 48, of Ludlow, Massachusetts
• Robert Riddell, 59, of East Granby, Connecticut
• Robert Rubner, 64, of Tolland, Connecticut
• David Broderick, 56, of West Springfield, Massachusetts

Injured were:

• Andy Barrett, 36, of South Hadley, Massachusetts
• Linda Schmidt, 62, of Suffield, Connecticut
• Tom Schmidt, 62, of Suffield, Connecticut
• Joseph Huber, 48, of Tariffville, Connecticut
• James Traficante, 54, of Simsbury, Connecticut
• Flight engineer Mitchell Milton, 34, of Dalhart, Texas
• Airport worker Andrew Sullivan, 28, of Enfield, Connecticut

What the National Transportation Safety Board has to date reported about the deadly crash

The bomber was only two minutes into its living history tour when the pilot radioed he was having engine trouble and wanted to return to the airport. Three minutes later, the warbird crashed into a maintenance building and burst into flames, according to a preliminary report from federal investigators.

The exact cause of the deadly crash has yet to be determined. But an early four-page report from the National Transportation Safety Board sheds new light on the minutes before the fiery crash.
What the report does say is the plane was 500 feet off the ground when the pilot noticed the engine trouble and tried to turn back. Air traffic controllers worked to guide the pilot's return to the airport, but the plane struck approach lights more than 1,000 feet before the runway, made contact with the ground 500 feet later, then crashed into a maintenance building and vehicles, sparking a fire.

The pilot of the Boeing B-17G took off from the airport at 9:48 a.m. Joining the three-member crew were 10 passengers who paid several hundreds dollars each for the living history experience as part of the Collings Foundation’s Wings of Freedom Tour.

But then engine problems started almost immediately and the pilot was not able to gain altitude, investigators said. The pilot tried to circle back and return to the runway but lost control. At 9:53, the plane crashed into a de-icing maintenance building at the end of Runway 6 and burst into flames. Recordings from air traffic control and Windsor Locks police and rescue describe a terrifying crash and its aftermath: "A B-17 has crashed. A B-17 has crashed."

The NTSB report said when the pilot told air traffic controllers he wanted to return to the airport, they asked him if he needed help, "to which he replied no," according to the report. The pilot told a controller the plane's No. 4 engine was running rough and the controller told the pilot to land on Runway 6, canceling the approach of another plane that had been headed for landing.
When the plane got to about 300 feet off the ground, the pilot told the controller he was "getting there." It was the last communication from the pilot.

Witnesses and airport surveillance video show that after the plane hit the approach lights and crashed to the ground short of the runway, it veered right and collided with vehicles and a deicing fluid tank about 1,100 feet right of the runway, the report said.

Read the full October 2019 NTSB preliminary report here:

NTSB preliminary report Bra... by Ellyn Santiago on Scribd

About the plane, the WWII bomber dubbed the 'Nine-O-Nine'

The plane, known as the “Nine-O-Nine,” had its last major inspection was in January of 2019.
The day after the crash, federal officials said witnesses told the NTSB they saw work being conducted on one or two of the plane's engines before takeoff. A witness told The Associated Press he heard an engine sputter and saw smoke plumes coming out of the back of the plane, as it made a wide turn to return to the airport. He described a "rumbling and the thunder" coming from the craft.

Prior to the Oct. 2 crash, vintage World War II-era bombers were listed as being involved in 21 accidents investigated by the NTSB since the creation of its database in 1982. Three of the previous accidents involved Boeing B-17G planes like the Nine-O-Nine. Twenty-three people were killed and one was injured in the previous crashes.

There are 16 B-17Gs currently registered in the United States, the last among thousands turned out during the war.

In the days after after the crash, NTSB member Jennifer Homendy said the agency would look at whether authorities should continue to allow vintage planes to offer living history flights.
"I think 21 incidents is tragic and 23 deaths is completely unacceptable,” she said. A final decision won't come until the NTSB finalizes its report, which is expected in the coming months.

The deadly crash at Bradley was not the first serious incident involving the "Nine-O-Nine." The plane was involved in a crash in 1987 at a Pittsburgh airshow when the pilot "overshot the runway" while attempting to land. Three were injured — one seriously — in that crash at Beaver County Airport where, it was reported, "gusty winds" caused the bomber to "plunge down a hillside as thousands of spectators were waiting for the show's finale."

The official crash investigation report found that during an approach in gusty winds, the plane's 72-year-old pilot said the plane's right wing began to lift after it touched down. He tried to maintain control, but was unable to stop on the remaining runway. The plane continued “off an embankment at the end of the runway and was damaged.”

The investigation found the crash was caused by four factors: a gusty crosswind, excessive airspeed, and the unnamed pilot misjudged the runway and landing distance, and did not abort the landing.

The NTSB reports said the plane sustained "substantial" damage in the incident. The Collings Foundation said the plane later would be repaired, but in 1995, the it was damaged again while landing in Nebraska. There were no injuries in that incident.

The foundation had launched a fundraising campaign to raise $75,000 for a new engine after the crew started looking into issues it experienced during a flight on Sept. 15, 2018. The inspection determined the plane's No. 3 engine was failing, the foundation said on Facebook, which would appear to be a different engine than the No. 4 engine cited in the NTSB report about the Oct. 2 crash.

The foundation shipped a spare engine to Vermont to replace the failing No. 3 engine after that September 2018 incident, but the spare had problems of its own, requiring the need for another spare to be sent. The foundation asked supporters to help cover the growing cost of replacing the engine.