Preliminary Report On Pastor's Crash Leaves Questions

TAMPA - A preliminary report offers cold, hard facts but doesn't answer the question of why a plane carrying a Brandon pastor and his son crashed into the side of a North Carolina mountain.

One aviation authority who was asked to examine the report for The Tampa Tribune did see a pattern emerge in the description of weather conditions, mountain elevations and path of the airplane flown by the Rev. Forrest Pollock.

"It looked like he was trying to dodge some clouds, trying to find a clearing, and it didn't work out for him," said Robert Breiling of Boca Raton, a retired Navy pilot who runs an aviation consulting business. "He was turning, descending and climbing."

The report was made public Thursday on the Web site of the National Transportation Safety Board. The single-engine Piper crashed near Cruso, N.C., at 5:33 a.m. May 12, killing the 44-year-old pastor of Bell Shoals Baptist Church and his 13-year-old son, Preston.

Breiling said the combination of overcast, pre-dawn skies, Pollock's skill level and the terrain may have contributed to the crash. The final NTSB report likely will take months to complete.

There may have been some mistakes, Breiling said.

For example, most pilots call the Federal Aviation Administration before a flight to get a weather briefing. That was not done, according to the report. And the weather could have presented a problem.

The report said winds were about 25 mph with gusts up to 34 mph at the time of the crash. Visibility was 10 miles even though Pollock took off just before dawn. There were scattered clouds.

Breiling said he was surprised that a pilot with Pollock's time in the air had not obtained a higher level of certification, enabling him to fly using instruments in low visibility.

"You can use it daytime or nighttime," Breiling said. A pilot who flies regularly "should get the instrument rating."

Pollock was certified only for visual flight.

The report said Pollock's flight left the Rutherford County Airport-Marchman Field in Rutherfordton, N.C., about 5 a.m., headed for North Little Rock Municipal Airport in Arkansas. He was visiting his mother in North Carolina and was en route to Texas for a Christian conference. He was stopping in Little Rock to pick up a fellow clergy member.

Radar records show that at 5:20 a.m., Pollock's plane passed over Asheville, N.C., westbound at an altitude of 9,200 feet. For the next 10 minutes the Piper continued west, descending to 8,300 feet. During the next two minutes, the plane entered a descending right turn before continuing northwest at an altitude of 7,100 feet.

The next radar blip, 10 seconds later, showed the plane at an altitude of 6,100 feet. The plane then turned back toward the west and climbed to 6,300 feet before the final radar blip showed it at 5,700 feet, the report said.

All that indicates a pilot looking for some clear sky, Breiling said.

The wreckage was found on the southern face of a mountain at 4,700 feet above sea level. Breiling said the minimum safe altitude anywhere is 1,000 feet above the highest point.

Investigators said sheared treetops and positioning of the wreckage indicated a steep descent. The plane appeared to be intact when it hit.

Breiling said the airplane could have stalled or Pollock could have been experiencing vertigo, a sensation of dizziness.

"If he was in the clouds, that could have happened," Breiling said.