Fire, Not Impact, Killed Some in Reno Air Crash, Probers Say

Some passengers and crew members survived the impact of a Galaxy Airlines crash in Reno earlier this year but were killed by fire and smoke, federal investigators said Monday.

The National Transportation Safety Board, which released a series of reports on the Jan. 21 accident, said preliminary autopsy results showed high levels of carbon monoxide in the blood of some flight crew members and passengers, indicating that they had continued to breathe after the crash.

The charter Lockheed Electra, which was returning to Minneapolis from a gambling excursion to Reno, crashed about two minutes after takeoff from Reno Cannon International Airport. Three of the 71 people aboard survived the impact and fire, but two of them died within two weeks.

After crashing in a field about three miles from the airport, Flight 203 slid into a recreational vehicle sales lot. The turboprop’s 2,357 gallons of kerosene fuel, combined with the recreational vehicles’ propane tanks, created an explosion that spewed flaming wreckage and bodies across an adjacent highway. Investigators said a section of the aluminum fuselage melted, indicating that temperatures reached 1,240 degrees Fahrenheit.

The safety board will convene hearings next week in Reno as part of its investigation.

A recording of the flight crew’s conversation released earlier showed that they felt heavy vibration and asked permission to return to the airport after hearing two “thumps.”

After the captain ordered the throttles on the four engines pulled back to slow the plane, it entered a stall from which it did not recover, according to the tape. The pilot then called for maximum power, but it was too late.

Investigators have been examining whether a service door below the right wing was left open and caused the vibrations. A ground crew supervisor had disconnected a hose from the door when another worker was unable to do so. Neither recalled closing the access door, which measures 10 1/2 by 8 1/2 inches.

This week, in conjunction with the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., investigators hope to conduct a flight test of a similar Electra with its access door open.

The lone survivor of January’s crash, George E. Lamson Jr., 17, of St. Paul, Minn., had told investigators that after a smooth takeoff the plane stopped climbing. He recalled turbulence and two thumps.

After the crash, the youth was thrown onto the nearby highway, still strapped in his seat. He ripped off his seat belt and started running, yelling for his father, who had been seated next to him.

His father survived the crash but died Jan. 29.