By Townhall Chicago News Staff
Nine people died when a business jet crashed, and investigators have recovered the aircraft’s cockpit voice recorder, according to a report aired on Fox News Radio. The flight’s origin, destination and the identities of those aboard were described inconsistently in available source material and could not be confirmed.
Rob Mark, a pilot and editor of the aviation publication JetWhine, said avoiding severe weather is the responsibility of the flight crew, not air traffic control.
“It’s not the controller’s responsibility to keep the airplanes away from bad weather. That’s the pilot’s responsibility,” Mark said.
Mark cautioned against drawing conclusions about the crew’s decisions before investigators finish their work. “I hate to just pin it on the pilots. There’s an awful lot of information that still needs to be dug into,” he said.
Early reports indicated a piece of the aircraft’s elevator, a control surface on the tail, separated during the flight. “That means really, really severe turbulence,” Mark said, adding that pilots are generally advised to stay roughly 20 miles from thunderstorms.
Conflicting details about the pilot’s age and experience appeared in the source material and are not included in this report.
The National Transportation Safety Board typically leads investigations of crashes of this kind, and a preliminary report was not yet available.
