Federal investigation underway into prison plane crash
Federal investigators today examined the site of a fatal crash involving an experimental twin-engine airplane on the grounds of a prison in Norco, but details regarding what might have happened will not be released for at least a week.
National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Keith Holloway confirmed to City News Service that the crash site at the California Rehabilitation Center on Fifth Street was inspected and that investigators would return to the location Wednesday and possibly Thursday.
An NTSB preliminary accident report, which usually provides a narrative of what events immediately preceded a crash without specifying a cause, would likely be issued early next week, Holloway said.
A final report could be a year or more from completion.
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman Terri Hardy told City News Service that prison officials were cooperating and accommodating NTSB investigators in every way possible.
The pilot killed in the crash was identified by the Riverside County Coroner’s Office as a 51-year-old man, but his name and other information were withheld pending notification of relatives.
A spokesman for the Planes of Fame Museum at Chino Municipal Airport, where the Northrop N9M was based, told City News Service that any type of charity drive for the aviator’s family would be announced via the museum’s Facebook page or website, planesoffame.org.
The crash was reported about 12:10 p.m. Monday within a portion of the prison yard under construction, according to the Riverside County Fire Department.
The pilot, the sole occupant of the aircraft, was killed on impact. No prison guards or inmates were injured.
The Northrop N9M is configured like a flying wing, with two push-propellers mounted behind the cockpit. According to Federal Aviation Administration records, the plane that was destroyed was the last one flying of the four originally built in the early 1940s.
The type was considered in aviation circles to be a “grandfather” to the modern flying wings built by Northrop-Grumman, including the B-2 Stealth Bomber.
Witnesses said that the plane went into a spin before the crash.
Correctional personnel and county firefighters contained the post-crash fire within 20 minutes, according to reports from the scene.
Chino Airport, about 2.5 miles northwest of the prison, is home to a number of vintage and experimental aircraft.
Online videos of the N9M show that it was flying for demonstration purposes over the last decade, following a lengthy restoration.
The plane that went down had been slated to perform in the annual Planes of Fame Air Show, scheduled for May 4-5, according to the event website.
