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Investigators Focus on Plane, Pilot, Weather

Posted on: Tuesday, 3 January 2006, 18:00 CST

By Chris Olson and Abe Winter

Determining the cause of the plane crash in La Vista that killed three Kansans could take up to a year, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board said Friday.

Ed Malinowski, an air safety investigator from the NTSB's Chicago office, was at the site of the crash -- a field near 117th Street and Giles Road -- Friday to gather debris and equipment from the wreckage of the single-engine plane.

Pieces of the aircraft -- a 1966 Piper PA-28-180 -- will be taken to Chicago, where they will be examined to help determine the cause of the crash, Malinowski said.

An insurance company also will examine the wreckage, he said.

Autopsies were conducted Friday on the three victims: George Greening, the 45-year-old pilot; Julie Greening, 42, Greening's ex- wife; and Pamela Britt, 48.

The Greenings were from Abilene, Kan. Britt was from the Abilene area.

Authorities are awaiting dental records or DNA samples from Kansas to complete the autopsy reports and death certificates. Autopsy results won't be announced until next week at the earliest, said La Vista Police Chief Bob Lausten.

Malinowski said he would be looking at three things to help him determine the cause of the crash: the pilot, the aircraft and the weather.

The Greenings and Britt had taken country dance lessons at Bushwacker's Saloon Wednesday evening. They left the bar in a taxicab after the end of the Alamo Bowl, around 11:15 p.m., and headed to the Millard Airport.

Walt Wyckoff Jr., who works at Bushwacker's, said he is confident that the Greenings' visit to the bar didn't contribute to the crash.

"He was always responsible about his drinking. He never had more than a couple," Wyckoff said of George Greening. "He didn't want to be impaired for flying."

Federal Aviation Administration rules say pilots can't operate an aircraft within eight hours of having consumed alcohol.

"We refer to it as 'eight hours bottle to throttle,'" said Elizabeth Isham Cory, a spokeswoman for the FAA in Chicago.

Whether alcohol was a factor in the crash will be part of the investigation, Lausten said.

Concerning the weather conditions, the National Weather Service office in Valley reported fog and mist with a visibility of 1 1/2 miles at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Authorities said the crash occurred sometime after 11:30 p.m. The wreckage wasn't discovered until 9:52 a.m. Thursday. The fog had thickened throughout the early morning, obscuring the view of the crash site, which was about 250 yards from 117th Street.

Malinowski said the plane's emergency locator transmitter, or "black box," was found in pieces and was of no help in the investigation.

George Greening had told friends that he knew when not to risk making a 220-mile flight between Abilene and the Millard Airport for the weekly dance lessons at Bushwacker's.

"There was a time a few weeks ago when there was an ice storm and he didn't even try to fly up," Wyckoff said. "It's not like he was going to come up here come hell or high water."

Greening may have realized conditions weren't ideal for flying Wednesday night and turned back toward the airport before his plane went down.

"The plane was lined up on track toward the runway, about three- quarters of a mile away," Lausten said.

It's also possible that the pilot became disoriented in the fog, Lausten said, because he was flying west at the time of the crash, not south.

Lausten said the plane took off from Millard Airport sometime after 11:30 p.m. Wednesday. The three were heading home to Abilene.

The FAA said no flight plan for the plane was filed. A flight plan is not required if a pilot is using visual flight rules.

But pilots must have a clear line of sight to the horizon to fly under visual flight rules, said Brent Bowen, director of the University of Nebraska at Omaha's Aviation Institute.

"When you are not trained and the aircraft instruments are not certified, that's when accidents happen," Bowen said.

An FAA spokesman said Greening received his pilot's license in May 2005. He had 53 hours of air time and was not certified to fly by instruments.

Pieces of the plane broke off at impact, and debris was scattered over 200 yards. The mangled hunk of metal showed no signs of having burned, Lausten said, and the grass around the crash site was not singed.

Officials with the Sarpy County Sheriff's Office worked Thursday afternoon to remove the bodies from the wreckage.

Lausten asked that anyone who may have witnessed the crash call the La Vista Police Department at 331-1582 or 331-1353.

Source: Omaha World - Herald

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