Thomas Dean, 50, of Laguna Beach, died in the crash.
LONG BEACH — The private airplane that crashed last year at Long Beach Airport, killing five men, was 653 pounds overweight at takeoff and its engines were past due for an overhaul, according to a federal report.
The National Transportation Safety Board investigation into the March 16, 2011, crash says that the manufacturer recommends that the engines be overhauled every 3,000 flight hours. However, the report found that the left engine, which appeared to be the one that had failed, had 3,020 hours since its last overhaul, while the right engine had 3,325 hours since its last overhaul.
The report, released Thursday, also suggests that water in the engine, the result of it possibly not being regularly drained, could
Mark Bixby, 44, of Long Beach, died in the crash.
Witnesses described hearing two loud pops as the plane listed to the left. The report says these could have been caused by the engine attempting to restart.
The crash killed several well-known businessmen and community leaders, including businessman and bicycle advocate Mark Bixby, 44, a well-known member of one of Long Beach's founding families, and two real estate partners who were involved in the Los Cerritos Wetlands land swap, Thomas Dean, 50, of Laguna Beach, and Jeff Berger, 49, of Manhattan Beach.
Also killed were Bruce Krall, 51, of Ladera Ranch; and pilot Kenneth Cruz, 43, of Culver City.
The passengers died from multiple traumatic injuries, the NTSB says. Cruz died
from multiple traumatic injuries with thermal injuries, or burns.The sole survivor was Mike Jensen, 51, of Long Beach, the owner of Pacific Retail Partners and Bixby's boss. He suffered severe burns in the crash.
The NTSB report says the twin-engine Beech King Air 200 was owned by Carde Equipment Sales LLC of California.
The report provides new details on the crash.
"One witness said 'the airplane sounded like it was in trouble,'" the NTSB report says. "Another witness
Jeff Berger, 49, of Manhattan Beach, died in the crash.
"A third witness said 'the strange noise was like a propeller noise, not an engine sound.' A fourth witness said that it appeared to him that the left propeller was windmilling," the report added.
The accident occurred when the plane crashed shortly after takeoff and burst into flames on the southwest portion of the Long Beach Airport.
All five deaths were ruled accidental by the Coroner's Office.
Read the full NTSB report at http://telecomadvisors.biz/dms.ntsb.gov/aviation/AccidentReports/ciyfje45s2mkjkqyh2k444451/E05312012120000.pdf/
joe.segura@presstelegram.com, 562-714-2167, Bruce Krall, 51, of Ladera Ranch, died in the plane crash. (PHOTO COURTESY OF ELISA KRALL)
