(August 8, 2007)—The pilot of a twin-engine Cessna 310 that crashed on Dec. 10, 2006 short of the main runway at Waco Regional Airport, killing all three men aboard, was impaired by prohibited drugs and failed to maintain adequate speed to keep the plane in the air, a National Transportation Safety Board report says.

Other factors in the deadly crash, the NTSB says, were darkness, the weather and “the pilot’s lack of currency in instrument flight rules.”

Click Here For Full NTSB Narrative

Barr Brown, Jerry Roberts and pilot Justin Cardneaux died in the fiery crash.

Cardneaux and Brown were from Natchez, Miss. and Roberts was from Vidalia, La.

The Federal Aviation Toxicology Accident Research Laboratory in Oklahoma City said Cardneaux tested positive for marijuana, the painkillers dihydrocodeine and hydrocodone, the diet drug phentermine and the antihistamine promethazine.

The plane was on routine approach to Waco Regional Airport after a flight from Natchez and had been cleared to land, but moments before the crash, a controller in the airport tower radioed the pilot and said “low altitude alert...check altitude immediately,” the NTSB report said.

The controller saw a fireball north of the runway moments later.

Shortly before the crash, when the plane was a little more than two miles north of the airport, it was flying at 900 feet at a ground speed of 81 knots, the earlier report said.

The plane briefly ascended to 1,1000 feet, and then over the next 30 seconds descended to 600 feet and the ground speed dropped to 59 knots before the data ended at the time of the crash.

The Cessna 301’s stall speed is about 65 knots.

The plane came to rest upright in a plowed cornfield and burst into flames.

The only portion of the plane that wasn’t charred was the tail.

Click Here For NTSB Web Site

Click Here For Flightaware Web Site

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