P-J file photo by Eric Tichy
First responders are pictured at the Chautauqua County-Jamestown Airport on Tuesday.
The investigation into a June 2023 crash near the Chautauqua County Airport at Jamestown has been closed by the National Transportation Safety Board.
The report ends the NTSB’s inquiry into the June 6, 2023, crash that killed the 52-year-old Roger Ryall of Toronto, and 52-year-old David Hughes of British Columbia. Ryall was piloting the Cirrus SR-22. The single-engine plane had just performed the second of two touch-and-go landings when it banked left and then right before crashing in a wooded area.
Data recovered from the Recoverable Data Module, often referred to as the plane’s black box, showed a CAS (crew alerting system) warning generated shortly before the crash as manifold pressure increased. The owner of a
Clarence Bientema of Tri City Aero Maintenance in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, told investigators that Hughes had brought the plane for maintenance on June 5, 2023, saying the manifold air pressure was too low. Mechanics adjusted the manifold air pressure and then took the plane on a 30-minute flight to verify that everything was set correctly. There were no anomalies noted during that flight.
The NTSB report indicates the engine manifold issue returned on June 6.
“The pilots’ failure to maintain airplane control following an anomalous engine indication during the initial climb, which resulted in a loss of control and parachute deployment at an altitude too low for the system to operate effectively. Contributing to the accident was an exceedance of engine manifold air pressure for reasons that could not be determined based on the available evidence.”
According to the NTSB, Ryall had been preparing for an instrument rating practical examination that was scheduled for the following week.
Further, the two-page preliminary report states, “The purpose of the accident trip was a combination of training and to work on exporting another airplane for sale in the U.S.”
The aircraft eyed for sale was located at the Chautauqua County-Jamestown Airport.
Ryall’s plane departed the morning of June 6 from its base in Oshawa, Ontario, and flew to Erie, Pa. Just after noon, the aircraft landed in Jamestown.
In its report, the NTSB said Ryall and Hughes took off at 1:41 p.m. and performed an “uneventful” touch-and-go landing, the practice of landing on a runway and taking off again without coming to a full stop. The maneuver is a common training exercise.
Ryall then performed a second touch-and-go landing on the same runway.
According to witnesses and use of ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast), the Cirrus SR-22 was about 100 to 200 feet above the ground after the second touch-and-go when it “banked steeply left, leveled, then banked right.” Afterward, the plane’s on-board parachute system was deployed.
“The airplane subsequently impacted a wooded area on the airport and a post-crash fire ensued,” said the NTSB, which sent an investigator to the airport a day after the crash.
The aircraft, the NTSB said, came to rest upright and was mostly consumed by fire; there was no debris path observed, and the deployed parachute was found near the wreckage.
