NTSB issues final report on plane crash that killed former fire chief, coroner, and friend

The National Transportation Safety Board said a Springfield man's failure to follow a system while navigating his plane to the final approach for landing was the probable cause of a crash that killed him and two others in 2020.

A final report from the NTSB, three years in the making, couldn't determine whether former Springfield fire chief and alderman Frank Edwards replaced a key component on the twin-engine Piper Aerostar he was flying to Springfield from Florida on Jan. 28, 2020.

The crash in an unincorporated Sangamon County field killed Edwards, his wife, Sangamon County coroner Cinda Edwards, and a family friend, John Evans, a former Capitol Development Board employee. The Edwards' dog, Lily, also died in the crash.

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The report, issued last week, pointed to Edwards' failure to follow the instrument landing system (ILS) course guidance during the instrument approach to Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport.

The ILS provides an approach path for the exact alignment and descent of an aircraft on the final approach to a runway.

According to the Midwest Regional Climate Center in Champaign, there was some decreased visibility because of light fog in the area that day. Shortly after making radio contact with Edwards, the approach controller in Springfield told him about "light-to-moderate mixed icing in the clouds."

Edwards also told the controller he was having an issue with the airplane’s navigation indicator.

A post-accident examination of both engines of the plane owned by the Springfield-based LKJ Properties, LLC, "did not reveal any anomalies" the report said. Most of the fuselage, cockpit and instrument panel were destroyed during a fire that engulfed the plane after it crashed.

The three took off from Sarasota/Bradenton International Airport in Florida around 9:33 a.m. on Jan. 28, arriving at Huntsville International Airport in Alabama at about 12:18 p.m. to refuel. The plane then left for Springfield at 1:02 p.m.

The crash occurred just after 3 p.m. after Edwards told the tower controller “we’ve got a prob," his last words on the radio.

The report indicated about five months before the accident, Edwards told the airplane’s maintainer that the horizontal situation indicator (HSI) displayed "erroneous heading indications." The maintainer reported that a replacement indicator was purchased and shipped directly to Edwards to be installed in the airplane, though the"available evidence for the investigation did not show whether the malfunctioning (HSI) was replaced before the flight." The HSI at the time of the crash sustained "significant thermal and fire damage, which prevented testing," the report said.

If the HSI hadn't been replaced, "it could have increased the pilot’s workload during the instrument approach," the report added.

Edwards was "instrument rated" as a pilot, the report indicated. That means he was able to operate under "instrument flight rules," used when "visual flight rules" are not in effect, such as when aircraft are obscured by weather.

Mike Robertson, a professor and safety officer at the Southern Illinois University aviation school, said while the report indicated the probable cause of the crash was the pilot's failure to follow the ISL course guidance, "to me, there are so many factors that could lead to that pilot not being able to follow the guidance on that given day.

"The biggest one that stands out was if the HSI was in good working order. It potentially wasn't and we don't know if he had the instrument installed and calibrated. If the HSI wasn't working properly, that would be a big problem for flying in the clouds because it's a main instrument you're relying on to maintain your guidance."

Another unknown, Robertson said, was how current Edwards was in flying with instrument conditions.

"(Edwards) flew with an instructor and the instructor said the pilot had good skills and appeared to be a good pilot," Robertson said, "but there's a huge difference in just going up with an instructor and flying in VFR conditions and using visual reference versus flying in IFR conditions and having to deal with the pressure and the stress that could create.

"The pilot has to be good with the plane, good with the environment, good with so many different aspects. (Edwards) had to spend 20 to 25 minutes in the clouds not having visual reference to the ground. If you're not proficient at that, that can catch up to you. That, tied to a potential instrument that may not have been working properly, that kind of gives a recipe for disaster."

Even though the plane was equipped for any icing conditions, "the pilot has to be comfortable flying in known icing conditions and what that brings," Robertson added.

The Edwards and Evans drove to Florida from Springfield earlier in January to pick up the plane, which was being serviced in LaBelle, Fla. Edwards had flown the plane into Sarasota earlier in January but struck a bird.

Frank Edwards, 69, served on the Springfield Fire Department for 25 years before he retired in 2002, having served his final 19 months as chief. He was Ward 1 alderman on the Springfield City Council from 2003 to 2015 — except for the few months he served as mayor after the December 2010 death of Mayor Tim Davlin. He also ran for mayor in 2019, losing a bid to unseat Mayor Jim Langfelder.

Cinda Edwards, 63, was a nurse and Lincoln Land Community College trustee when she was appointed county coroner in 2011. She had been a nurse with administrative responsibilities at Priority Care Clinics and had earlier spent eight years working in the emergency room at St. John’s Hospital in Springfield.

Evans was a friend of the couple. He spent more than 20 years working for the Capitol Development Board, an agency responsible for constructing state facilities, such as prisons, university buildings and state parks.

Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: A final report is out detailing a Springfield airplane crash that killed 3