NTSB Releases Findings On Two Deadly 2009 Plane Crashes In Lake Elsinore

The National Transportation Safety Board today released investigative findings on two separate 2009 plane crashes in Lake Elsinore that claimed three lives.

One accident was caused by a “pilot’s failure to maintain control…,” the other was due to “loss of  airplane control for undetermined reasons,” according to the April 28 reports released by the NTSB.

On June 17, 2009, Stephen Whitson, 70, of Lake Mathews and Debra Cunningham, 55, of Riverside, were killed when the plane Whitson was flying crashed in the nearby foothills of northwest Lake Elsinore.

Whitson was the registered owner of the plane, a single-engine, 1966 Champion Citabria.

In its April 28 report, the NTSB stated that the probable cause of the accident was “loss of airplane control for undetermined reasons.”

According to the report, Whitson’s wife stated that her husband and Cunningham were planning to fly to a local airport for lunch on June 17.

The plane departed from Corona Municipal Airport around 11 a.m.; the plane’s wreckage was found later that night in hilly terrain off Lake Street, east of the I-15.

There were no witnesses and the weather was generally clear, the NTSB report stated.

A post-accident engine inspection revealed “no mechanical anomalies that would have precluded normal operation,” the NTSB report stated.

In a separate September 12, 2009 incident, William R. Klesse, 70, of Gardena was killed when his glider crashed as he tried to take off from Skylark Field Airport in Lake Elsinore.

According to the April 28 NTSB report, Klesse crashed just after taking off behind a tow airplane.

“Shortly after takeoff, a tow airplane pilot felt slack in the tow line and in response he attempted to slow the airplane,” the NTSB report stated.

The pilot felt the airplane surge forward and “looked back to observe the glider in a sharp turn. The (tow) pilot noted his altitude was between 225 to 250 feet above the ground,” the report stated.

“Witnesses reported that it appeared that the glider released from the tow airplane, and then veered sharply to the right before it entered into a nose dive” and crashed, the report stated.

A Federal Aviation Administration airworthiness inspector who investigated the wreckage noted that the tow line had broken at the weak link. The weak link is a safety line designed to release under sudden or extreme loads. The weak link can break at low altitude, causing an inadvertent release.

As a result of the investigation, the NTSB found that Klesse’s failure to maintain control of the glider after the tow line released was the probable cause of the accident.