Hollister
– A preliminary National Transportation Safety Board
investigation cited weather conditions as a factor in the plane
crash that took the life of Texas college administrator in South
San Benito County last month.
Hollister – A preliminary National Transportation Safety Board investigation cited weather conditions as a factor in the plane crash that took the life of Texas college administrator in South San Benito County last month.
The NTSB report, released earlier this month, showed that Bill Dean Hardage, 61, lost control of his recently purchased Mooney M-10 airplane before crashing nose down into hilly terrain in South San Benito County.
Hardage, who served as the executive vice president of Wayland Baptist University, was flying from Watsonville Airport to Lancaster Airport on his way back to Texas. His plane crashed four miles east of the Bear Valley California Department of Forestry and Fire station on March 25.
Hardage had gone to Watsonville to pick up the plane, which he planned to fly back to Wayland in Plainview, Texas.
Hardage did not file a flight plan before taking off from Watsonville, according to the report. Witness told NTSB investigators that Hardage “refused a checkout in the new airplane.”
Hollister Airport manager Bill Gere said taking time to learn the controls of a new airplane was vitally important.
“When you go from one plane to another it’s a three week training course,” he said. “When a guy says he doesn’t need a checkout, that is kind of scary. It’s a big mistake.”
Hardage had planned to leave Watsonville the night before, but Watsonville pilots advised him to postpone the flight because of “deteriorating weather conditions,” according to the report. Another witness told NTSB investigators that Hardage declined a second checkout offer before taking off the next morning.
The report also showed that visibility at the time of the crash was three-quarters of mile.
Hardage left behind a wife and two grown children. Wayland is planning to establish a scholarship in memory of his service to the university. His death was the first fatality air crash in San Benito County in four years.
Brett Rowland covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or
br******@fr***********.com
.
