The Tribune

By Taneka Thompson

tmthompson@tribunemedia.net

THE US National Transportation Safety Board has found that pilot error caused a 2019 helicopter crash that killed coal American billionaire Chris Cline and six others.

Cline, a 60-year-old American coal tycoon, his 22-year-old daughter Kameron and five other people, including the two pilots, were on board the helicopter, registration number N32CC, that departed Big Grand Cay in the Abacos around 2am on July 4, 2019 for Fort Lauderdale.

A report by the NTSB said based on the sequence of events and the flight crew’s actions and comments before the crash, it appears they lost awareness of the helicopter’s flightpath after takeoff over water during dark night conditions, which likely led to spatial disorientation and the subsequent collision with water.

“The flight from Florida landed in Big Grand Cay at 0142,” the report notes. “At 0145, the PIC (pilot in command) filed an instrument flight rules flight plan, but it was not activated. While the flight crew was on the ground, the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) did not record them conducting a formal preflight instrument flight briefing. The flight crew’s pre takeoff conversation was limited to discussing flight plan information, including altitude, heading, and navigation; programming the flight computer; and the number of passengers expected on board.

“They did not discuss how to take off at night, visual meteorological conditions over water or their roles and responsibilities. The flight crew had a short discussion about the use of the flight controls and their automated functions during takeoff. Thus, their limited planning and communication for the takeoff from Big Grand Cay was indicative of inadequate crew resource management (CRM).”

The helicopter departed the cay around 1.52 am from a brightly lit helipad, but then flew over water in dark night conditions “with no visible moon, likely zero ambient illumination, and no visible horizon, which would necessitate the pilots’ reliance on the instruments in order to fly because of the very limited outside cues.”

The report also said the pilots’ failure to adequately monitor their instruments and respond to multiple warnings to arrest the helicopter’s descent was another cause of the crash.

The pilots were likely under pressure from Cline, the aircraft’s owner, to perform the flight, investigators said. The coal magnate’s daughter and one of her friends were ill, and Cline wanted them taken from his private island to a Florida hospital, officials said.

“Contributing to the pilots’ decision was external pressure to complete the flight. Contributing to the accident was the pilots’ lack of night flying experience from the island and their inadequate crew resource management,” investigators said.

Shortly after taking off, a witness saw the helicopter rotate to the left three to four times, followed by a “whoosh” noise and the sound of an impact, the report said.

The chopper was later found upside-down in about 16 feet of water with its rotor blades separated. The wreckage of the helicopter was transported to Jacksonville for the NTSB to examine.

The report also noted the pilot’s apprehension about night flights.

“The PIC’s (pilot in command) girlfriend reported that he did not like to fly at night and that he ‘rarely did it,’” the report states. “To her knowledge, the accident flight was his first night flight to The Bahamas. She said the PIC told her that night flying was ‘a whole different ball game.’ She added that he had informed her that the owner had been texting him all night and that he did not know if he had to fly to Big Grand Cay, but that he hoped he did not have to return.”

In addition to Cline and his daughter, others on board were Brittney Layne Searson of Palm Beach, Florida; Jillian Nicole Clarke of Los Angeles, California; Delaney Wykle of Washington, DC; co-pilot, Geoffrey Lee Painter of Barnestaple, United Kingdom and pilot David Jude of Kentucky.