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Saturday, May 12, 2001
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Plane crash blamed largely on pilot error

NTSB report also faults air traffic controllers

A deadly 1999 plane crash outside Las Vegas was primarily the result of pilot error, although the actions of air traffic controllers at Nellis Air Force Base and the North Las Vegas Airport played a role in the crash, according to federal documents.

On Oct. 14, 1999, Keith Riley, 30, of Torrance, Calif., died when the plane he was flying slammed into Gass Peak, 11 miles north of North Las Vegas. Riley, a pilot for California-based Ameriflight Corp., was transporting bank records from the Las Vegas Valley to Sacramento, Calif., at the time of his death.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board's final investigative report on the accident, Riley failed to make sure his plane was high enough to clear the mountain.

But the report also listed some actions of personnel at Nellis and the North Las Vegas Airport as contributing factors in the crash. According to the report, a North Las Vegas air traffic controller gave "improper issuance of a suggested (directional) heading," a criticism that local pilots say is mostly unfair.

NTSB investigators also determined that radar controllers at Nellis failed to identify a hazardous condition and issue a safety alert to Riley indicating he was traveling directly toward the mountain. None of the controllers were identified by name.

Some pilots interviewed by the Review-Journal -- who spoke only on condition of anonymity -- said they didn't fully agree with the findings of the NTSB. They said because Riley chose to fly by relying on his vision and not his instruments that night, he was solely responsible for making sure he was high enough to clear the mountain.

A spokesman for the base declined comment on the report.

"It was a tragic loss to his family and our company," said John W. Hazlet Jr., Ameriflight's vice president of maintenance and director of operations.

According to the report, Riley was not scheduled to fly the Ameriflight plane, a Piper PA-31-350, on the night of the crash. But when the scheduled pilot called in sick, Riley was assigned to the flight.

Riley previously had worked as a pilot for a Grand Canyon tour operator and had flown in the Las Vegas area before being hired by Ameriflight. He also had flown one daytime trip into North Las Vegas, the report said.

Riley, the report said, originally planned to fly by instrument flight rules, which means a pilot depends primarily on his plane's instruments for guidance.

However, with his flight an hour late and facing an additional 10-minute delay in order to obtain his instrument-related instructions from the North Las Vegas Airport tower controller, Riley decided to take off on visual flight rules. These rules allow a pilot to fly primarily by sight. According to the report, Riley planned on getting his instrument flight instructions shortly after takeoff.

The North Las Vegas tower then gave Riley a suggested directional heading that would have taken him directly toward Gass Peak.

"The purpose of the suggested heading was never stated to the pilot, as required," the report states.

Although the tower controller was criticized in the federal report for giving Riley this direction, local pilots said it is standard procedure aimed at keeping general aviation flights out of restricted Nellis air space.

"A pilot under a visual flight rules clearance has to be aware of terrain on his own," said one pilot. "They always give that (direction.)"

Riley was then to receive communications from Nellis air traffic controllers and turn toward Beatty, which would have taken him on a route away from Gass Peak. Riley took off about 7:39 p.m., and a short time later he made contact with Nellis air traffic controllers.

At 7:44 p.m., a Nellis air traffic controller asked Riley if he was headed toward Beatty.

"Umm ... um we can go ahead and we'll go direct Beatty," Riley said, seemingly indicating he planned to head toward the small town 83 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Within two minutes, Nellis air traffic controllers could not reach Riley and lost contact with him on radar. He died instantly in the crash.

An air traffic control supervisor at Nellis, who also was not identified by name, told investigators that the flight Riley was in charge of routinely departs by visual flight rules out of North Las Vegas and then turns toward Beatty. Why Riley didn't carry out that action is not explained in the NTSB report.

"The controller expected the pilot to turn westbound ... toward Beatty," the report says.