Daily Herald
January 26, 2010
KENOVA, W.Va. -- A small, private plane was overloaded and improperly balanced when it crashed and killed all six aboard in West Virginia a year ago, the National Transportation Safety Board said.
The board's report noted that pilot Wieslaw Dobrzanski of Niles didn't get a weather briefing, wasn't certified for instrument flight and didn't file a flight plan.
Dobrzanski and his passengers, including four members of the American Polish Aero-Club in Chicago, died when the plane struck power lines and crashed. Dobrzanski was low on fuel and trying to reach Tri-State Airport near Huntington and ran into snow and low visibility.
The NTSB said the plane weighed about 4,902 pounds at takeoff, which was about 332 pounds over the manufacturer's limit of 4,570 pounds.
The plane's center of gravity also was too far toward its rear, according to the report, which termed proper weight and balance "vital" to safety.
"Improper loading cuts down the efficiency of an aircraft from the standpoint of altitude, maneuverability, rate of climb, and speed," the agency said. "It may even be the cause of failure to complete the flight, or for that matter, failure to start the flight."
Dobrzanski was responsible for loading the plane properly, the report said.
Dobrzanski died of multiple injuries, but was not intoxicated and tested negative for carbon monoxide and cyanide, according to the report.
The six were flying from Illinois to Florida, with a planned stop in North Carolina, to look at airplanes for sale.