News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has issued its final report on the July 1, 2005, plane crash that killed Jan and Bill Reed and injured their three children, Ashley, Ryan and Brittany.
The report indicates that while the fuel sight gauges on the wings indicated that there was a total of 100 gallons of fuel available, there was in fact 49 usable gallons available. The sight gauges had been worked on during the replacement of fuel cells in March 2005. The gauges in the cockpit were frequently inaccurate despite efforts to have them repaired and were not depended upon, according to the report.
The Reeds were on their way to vacation on Whidbey Island, Washington.
The plane, a Beech E-55 twin-engine craft, was owned by Mike and Bill Reed and was registered to Mike Reed. Ryan Reed was the pilot; his father Bill was in the co-pilot’s seat.
In a written statement to The Nugget, Ryan Reed said,
“I have reviewed the (National Transportation Safety Board) report carefully. It brings back memories I would like to forget, especially as we approach the anniversary of my parents’ death. I was relieved to read that the gauges on the fuel tanks were not properly aligned when they were reinstalled. This means that when dad and I checked the fuel in Redmond before takeoff, the gauges incorrectly indicated that there was more than sufficient fuel for our flight. We would never put our family or ourselves at risk by not carrying adequate fuel.”
According to the NTSB report, Ryan and Bill Reed “pulled the airplane out of its hangar at Roberts Field in Redmond and conducted a pre-flight inspection. He (Ryan) explained that ‘the way to visually inspect the fuel level on this plane is to check the float gauges on the wing, which for the past 11 years of ownership, (have) been pin-point accurate. The left engine had 45 gallons (3 hours) and the right engine had 55 gallons (3:45 hours), and both engines had 11 qts. of oil. This was a sufficient amount of fuel for an hour-and-fifty-minute flight.’”
Ryan Reed told the NTSB “that the flight from Redmond to Friday Harbor proceeded uneventfully until they were ‘a few miles north of Seattle airspace.’ As he was waiting for Whidbey Island Naval Air Station Approach Control to respond to his request for an instrument flight rules (IFR) clearance to descend through an overcast cloud layer, the right engine started ‘surging.’
“He asked Whidbey Approach to expedite his request and they cleared him to descend through the cloud layer and gave him a vector to Friday Harbor. The pilot turned the auxiliary fuel pumps on low, and ‘the engine began to act somewhat normally.’
“After descending through the clouds and with the airport in sight, he canceled his IFR flight plan and changed to the common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF) for Friday Harbor. ‘Soon after,’ the right engine began surging again. ‘After several minutes,’ the left engine started surging. His attempts to remedy the situation were unsuccessful.
“The pilot stated that ‘the engines never shut down, but there wasn’t sufficient thrust to keep us in the air and the plane started to lose altitude.’ He realized they were descending below the elevation of the cliff top on Lopez Island and turned away from the cliff. ‘Within seconds of turning away from the cliff,’ the airplane impacted the water and ‘almost immediately began sinking.’”
Jan and Bill Reed were killed in the crash. Ryan, Brittany and Ashley Reed survived and swam to the shore of Lopez Island. Ashley suffered serious injuries, including a spinal injury and a cracked sternum.
According to the report, a mechanic interviewed by NTSB acknowledged the owner raised concerns about some of the work done to repair fuel leaks in March 2005. One of the things the owner reportedly expressed concern about was that “one of the wing fuel sight gauges was not reading correctly.” The gauges were reinstalled.
Ryan and Bill Reed believed that the plane had ample fuel for the flight, based on the fuel sight gauges. NTSB calculated from the airplane’s “trip book” that “at the start of the accident flight the airplane contained approximately 49 usable gallons of fuel with each wing holding about 24.5 usable gallons of fuel.”
The death of the prominent and well-loved Sisters couple shook the community and prompted an outpouring of support for the survivors. Last fall, the Sisters School District renamed the Outlaws football stadium Reed Stadium in recognition of the couple’s commitment to the schools.
In his statement, Ryan Reed acknowledged the community’s response.
“My family and I appreciate the support and love the Sisters’ community has provided to us over the past year.”
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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