Federal investigators say right engine failed in fatal plane crash

<p>The lone survivor of a twin-engine plane crash that killed four church officials and the pilot said the right engine failed during the takeoff climb, an investigation report shows.</p><p>The National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report on the Dec. 2 crash, released Wednesday, is based on an account provided by Jim Huff of Collegedale.</p><p>Huff, a part-time flight instructor traveling with the group as a volunteer co-pilot, walked away from the burning wreckage after the plane went down in woods north of the Collegedale Airport. He spent one night in a hospital.</p><p>Huff has since declined interviews.</p><p>"The airplane was between 200 to 300 feet on initial takeoff climb when the right engine lost power and the airplane yawed (turned) to the right," the report says.</p><p>The crash survivor saw trees directly ahead and "thought the pilot was trying to make a forced landing in an open field to their left ... thought the airplane would skim the top of the trees and they would be able to complete the forced landing in the open field.</p><p>"He then realized the airplane was going to collide with the trees. Just before the airplane hit the trees, the pilot feathered the right engine" and the right propeller responded and then stopped, according to the report.</p><p>An eyewitness has said the aircraft fell "like a brick" and burst into flames after impact, killing four Georgia leaders of the Seventh Day Adventist Church and the pilot, John Laswell of Collegedale.</p><p>The other victims were identified as Dave Cress, 47, president of the Georgia-Cumberland Conference of Seventh-day Adventists; Jim Frost, 53, the conference vice president; Jamie Arnall, 29, director of communication; and Clay Farwell, 67, assistant to the president.</p><p>The report doesn't indicate what caused the engine to fail. Sheryl Christian, an NTSB office assistant in Atlanta, said final reports on general aviation crashes "can take up to a year."</p><p>The plane was registered to the Calhoun, Ga.-based conference.</p><p>The church officials had been meeting at Southern Adventist University in Collegedale and were traveling to Knoxville for meetings with pastors and other conference presidents.</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2004/12/155505