MCKINNEY, Texas — A new report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has detailed how a small plane ended up colliding with a car after going through a runway at an airport in McKinney last month.
Only one person, the driver of the car, had minor injuries in the crash, which happened on Nov. 11 at the Aero Country Airport, near Virginia Parkway in McKinney.
Video from a witness showed the Lancair LX7 plane crashing through a fence at the end of the runway and colliding with a car that was traveling on a road.
The NTSB report released Friday said the pilot, who was flying from Midland to McKinney, was pulling back on the power lever while he was landing when the lever ball came off in his hand. The pilot gave the ball to the passenger "and continued landing at the flight idle power position," the report said.
The pilot told investigators that the plane touched down on the first 500 feet of the runway "without a float or a bounce in ground effect," the report said. He then hit the brakes "gently, according to the report, and kept the plane on the runway's center line.
For 5-10 seconds, the pilot "unsuccessfully attempted to move the power lever into beta-reverse," the report said.
The pilot then gave maximum braking but the brakes "faded and stopping power decreased." The plane went through the end of the runway, through the fence and into the roadway, where it struck a car.
Earlier in the flight, while the pilot was west of Abilene, he reported that a door seal on the plane failed, causing a loss in pressurization, the report said. He asked air traffic control for an immediate descent, and he dropped to 10,000 feet, before continuing to McKinney.
About 5 minutes later, the report said, the pilot saw a caution light for the propeller's revolutions per minute (RPM). He reduced the RPM to 1,800 and continued to McKinney without issue.
When he got to the airport, he did a "touch and go" landing to get a look at the runway, because he had not landed there before. After climbing back to altitude, he went back down for the landing, and that's when the power level ball came off.
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