Crew 2 Date 24 October 2003 Total fatalities 10 (all) Location Stuart | Passengers 8 Survivors 0 Survivor 0 | |
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Summary Pilot error resulting in Controlled flight into terrain, navigational issues and inclement weather ruled as contributing factors Similar Air Tahoma Flight 185, Kish Air Flight 7170, MK Airlines Flight 1602, Lion Air Flight 538, Northwest Airlines Flight 327 | ||
On October 24, 2004, a Beechcraft Super King Air aircraft, registered N501RH and owned by NASCAR team Hendrick Motorsports, crashed into mountainous terrain in Stuart, Virginia, during a missed approach to Blue Ridge Airport en route to the Subway 500 Nextel Cup Series race. All ten people on board were killed; among them, members of the Hendrick family including John Hendrick, president of Hendrick Motorsports, and former Busch Series driver and owner Ricky Hendrick.
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Crash
The King Air took off from Concord, North Carolina, at 12 pm EST, carrying eight passengers and two flight crew. Among them were several key Hendrick Motorsports staff, including team president John Hendrick and his twin daughters, Kimberly and Jennifer Hendrick; Ricky Hendrick, son of Rick Hendrick; general manager Jeff Turner; and chief engine builder Randy Dorton. The other people on board were Joe Jackson, a DuPont executive; Scott Lathram, a pilot for driver Tony Stewart; and pilots Richard Tracy and Elizabeth Morrison. The plane was reported missing at 3:00 pm. Eventually 9-1-1 was called, and fire trucks and police cars patrolled the Virginia area during the race itself. Around midway through the race, searchers patrolling the nearby Bull Mountain's peak found airplane wreckage on the summit. When removing the wreckage from the summit they found the bodies of the Hendrick group at 11:05 pm. Everyone on board had been killed. A search by firefighters also discovered a scar on the mountain of moved dirt; the discovery proved that the airplane crashed on the side of the mountain and the explosion blew the wreckage and group upward.
NASCAR received word of the plane crash halfway through the race at Martinsville. Hendrick Motorsports won the race as a team victory but after the race was over, NASCAR immediately summoned all Hendrick Motorsports drivers and team officials– including the race winner Jimmie Johnson– to the Oval Office where details of the accident were disclosed to the team. Immediately afterwards, all victory lane ceremonies were cancelled.
Investigation
An investigation conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) followed soon after the crash.
Weather
There were foggy conditions at the time of the plane crash.
Pilot error as a cause
The NTSB suggested that pilot error was the cause of the crash, partly by:
The NTSB concluded its investigation by suggesting that the pilots failed to execute an instrument approach procedure and that both failed to use all navigational aids to confirm the airplane's position during its approach.
Lawsuit
On February 7, 2006, a lawsuit was filed against Hendrick Motorsports by the widows of two men killed in the plane crash. Dianne Dorton claimed "conscious and intentional disregard" for the life of her husband, Randy Dorton, the head engine builder for Hendrick Motorsports. The lawsuit places partial blame on John Hendrick, the President of Hendrick Motorsports. Her claim is based on a conversation with her husband shortly before the crash, as well as a conversation between John Hendrick and pilot Richard Tracy.
Dorton called his wife the morning of the crash. He told his wife that they were supposed to fly in a helicopter but the helicopter was delayed due to bad weather, and that they were going to fly in a Hendrick Motorsports plane instead. Dorton waited in the Hendrick Hangar for over an hour. He called Dianne and told her he didn't think they would go, only to call back 47 minutes later to tell her "we're going".
Pilot Richard Tracy allegedly suggested flying into Danville instead of Blue Ridge Airport, but Hendrick refused because Danville was further away and he didn't want to be late for the race. The grounded helicopter pilot witnessed the conversation and could be called to testify.
In a separate lawsuit, Scott Lathram's widow Tracy claims that at least 27 other aircraft scratched plans to land at Blue Ridge Airport on October 24 due to bad weather. Lathram was a helicopter pilot for NASCAR driver Tony Stewart.
Impact on Hendrick Motorsports
On February 18, 2005, Marshall Carlson, Rick Hendrick's son-in-law, signed on as new general manager.
Memorials
The week following the crash, officials at the Atlanta Motor Speedway held a moment of silence before both the Busch and Nextel Cup races and lowered the flags to half staff. All the Hendrick Motorsports cars carried tributes on the hoods for those who were lost the week before. Jimmie Johnson (who won the Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 race) and the rest of his teammates and crew wore their caps backwards in victory lane as a tribute to Ricky Hendrick, who had a habit of doing the same. At the Hendrick museum in Concord, North Carolina, 300 people showed up for a candlelight vigil in honor of the ten victims.
The Randy Dorton Trophy now goes to the winner of the Mahle Engine Builders Challenge.