No cause yet. Investigation into Eastham plane crash could take 6-12 months

EASTHAM — The National Transportation Safety Board has said the plane that made an emergency landing at Nauset Light Beach in June suffered “significant” damage.

A Cessna 172 with a pilot and two passengers on board took off from Chatham Municipal Airport at 3:45 p.m. on June 16, Wellfleet police said at the time. About 15 minutes later, the plane was forced to land at Nauset Light Beach, police said.

No one was injured and police initially said the plane had a mechanical problem.

At the time of the emergency landing, the cloud conditions were “clear,” visibility was 10 miles, and winds were light at about 7 miles per hour, according to the federal agency. No further information was available on the damage to the plane.

The agency will conduct a Class 4 investigation, which is “limited in scope” and the shortest of the four categories created by the agency to determine the cause of the emergency landing, the preliminary statement said.

The investigation will only examine the “acts and circumstances directly related to the accident,” and the agency will publish a “simple and straightforward” explanation of the probable cause and sequence of events leading up to the emergency landing in a final report, the agency's website said.

Investigations take six to twelve months

Investigations into nonfatal aviation accidents are typically completed within six to 12 months of the incident, Peter Knudson, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board, said in an email.

Stick'N Rudder Aero Tours, which owns the aircraft, is the only tour company operating out of Chatham Airport, according to Tim Howard, airport manager and owner of Stick'N Rudder Aero Tours.

Howard, who also owns Cape Cod Flying Circus, which operates a permanent base and airport at Chatham Airport, said all “next steps” for the travel company following the June 16 emergency landing have been initiated.

“All of our people have been informed and there are no further steps,” Howard said. “The next steps are to put the aircraft back together and move on and not do it again.”

After the incident, the travel company grounded its planes for three days to review all procedures, including pilot and maintenance procedures, and “make sure there was nothing we could have done better,” Howard said.

Howard said the plane was “definitely damaged” and the company was investigating what he believed could have been “parts of the problem.”

The Cessna 172 is currently being repaired and could fly again in the next few months, Howard said.

The emergency landing was “very surprising” and “rare” for the tour operator, he said.

“It doesn't happen often, but it can happen,” Howard said. “All of the planes were definitely checked multiple times to find anything that could be found.”

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No cause yet. Investigation into Eastham plane crash could take 6-12 months

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