The pilot of a Mitsubishi MU-2B-60 cargo plane that crashed near Centennial Airport shortly after takeoff in December 2004 declared an emergency and called for air-traffic controllers to “roll” fire and rescue equipment shortly before the fatal accident.
“Just need to get in as soon as possible,” pilot Paul Krysiak told controllers about two minutes before the crash, according to a National Transportation Safety Board report released Thursday.
Krysiak never got the twin-engine turboprop higher than 900 feet above the ground, and seconds later, after the plane lost 400 feet of altitude, he told controllers he had shut down an engine, according to the report.
Krysiak made three turns to return to the same runway he took off from.
He overshot the runway, however, and the plane banked steeply to the left before falling to the ground, the report added.
The accident killed Krysiak, 28, of Aurora, who was flying the cargo plane for American Check Transport Inc., and James Presba, 25, of Lone Tree, a pilot who was in the right seat, next to Krysiak.
American Check is based at Front Range Airport in Adams County.
Presba was riding to get “aircraft familiarization” in advance of beginning initial flight training to operate MU-2 aircraft for American Check, the NTSB said.
The report did not list a probable cause of the accident, which the agency is expected to identify at a later date.
In January, the Federal Aviation Administration outlined a strict new training program for pilots of MU-2 aircraft following a series of fatal accidents involving the plane.
Another American Check pilot was killed in August when his MU-2B-60 crashed while making an instrument approach to Centennial in rainy weather.
The FAA said MU-2s are “complex aircraft requiring operational techniques not typically found in other light turboprop aircraft.”
Krysiak had accumulated 2,496 hours of flight time before the accident, including about 1,900 hours in multi-engine airplanes.
He had about 364 flight hours in the make and model of the plane that crashed.
Staff writer Jeffrey Leib can be reached at 303-820-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com.
