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Failure to maintain adequate airspeed in
gusty crosswinds was the probable cause of a plane crash that
killed four people near Faribault in November 2007, the National
Transportation Safety Board said.
      


In a finding approved Sunday, the NTSB said the pilot did not
maintain airspeed adequate for the gusty crosswinds of up to 22
knots. It said the single-engine Cirrus SR22 stalled, went into a
spin and crashed while the pilot was making a second landing
attempt at the Faribault Municipal Airport, shortly after aborting
his first attempt. The plane's left wing clipped the ground,
sending the plane cartwheeling.
      


The crash killed the pilot, Dr. Chester Mayo, 51, of Aberdeen,
S.D., - an orthopedic surgeon and descendant of the brothers who
built the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. Also killed were his son
Chester Mayo Jr., 17, and two of his son's friends, Cory Creger,
19, and Jay Wang, 17.
      

Mayo was taking his son and friends back from Aberdeen to
Faribault after spending Thanksgiving in South Dakota. Both Chester
Mayo Jr. and Wang were seniors at Shattuck-St. Mary's School;
Creger was the younger Mayo's girlfriend.
      


The winds at the Faribault airport were out of the south at 15
knots, gusting to 22 knots, at the time of the crash, just before 3
p.m. on Nov. 25, 2007.
      


A pilot of a different Cirrus SR22 aborted a landing on the same
runway due to gusty crosswinds about two hours before the fatal
crash, the NTSB said.
      

Since the crash, pilots landing on that runway have been advised
to be alert for turbulence and possible windshear when winds are
out of the south.
      

Gallery

NTSB to investigate plane crash that killed eight

High-flying Cirrus tries to slow down

Disasters

Failure to maintain adequate airspeed in
gusty crosswinds was the probable cause of a plane crash that
killed four people near Faribault in November 2007, the National
Transportation Safety Board said.

NTSB: Failure to maintain airspeed led to crash

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