(September 7, 2006)—A preliminary report released Thursday by the National Transportation Safety Board details what happened in the last seconds of the short plane flight that ended in a fiery crash that killed US Air Force Lt. Gen (Ret.) Harry Goodall of Waco, but the report doesn’t offer an answer to why the twin-engine plane suddenly rolled into a steep left turn and plunged into a field Saturday at the McGregor airport.
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“The landing gear and flaps were found in the retracted position,” the report said, which would suggest Goodall wasn’t attempting to land the Beech Barton 95-A55 shortly after taking off on the first leg of a flight to Norfolk, Va., where he was scheduled to address an officer’s group.
The report includes descriptions from three witnesses to the crash, all of whom reported seeing the plane roll hard to the left before plunging into a field between US Highway 84 and the airport’s runway, where it burst into flames.
One of the witnesses was a professional pilot who had just landed and saw Goodall’s plane take off.
That witness said the plane was climbing normally when it suddenly pitched upward and rolled to the left.
He said it did not appear Goodall was attempting to turn the plane around and said he heard no radio communications, which the airport’s fixed base operator confirmed.
All four fuel tanks of Goodall’s plane had been topped off, which accounted for the fire that consumed much of the wreckage of the plane.
The airplane and the engines were taken to an air salvage company near Lancaster for further examination, the report said.
A memorial service was held Thursday at the First Baptist Church of Waco for Goodall, who will be buried with full military honors including an F-16 flyover at 11:45 a.m. Friday at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.
Goodall was a highly decorated officer who had more than 5,000 hours of flying time according to his biography on the Web site of Waco’s Advanced Concepts and Technologies International, where he served as director of strategic planning.
