NTSB: Plane may have been returning to airport when it crashed

By Marcus K. Garner

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

James Wardlaw's Cessna 310 was "in a steep turn" when it slammed into the garage of a Lawrenceville home early Friday afternoon.

"We estimate he came in about 200 knots," NTSB investigator Butch Wilson said, though he declined to give his theory. "It hit the garage doors, took out the cars and went through an [adjacent] wall."

An investigation team from the National Transportation Safety Board's Griffin office was back at the home in the 2300 block of Walker Drive Sunday. The team was documenting pieces of wreckage for removal from the scene. That process should be completed by Sunday night, Wilson said.

Wilson said there was more to be done before a final determination can be made on the cause. He's still waiting for information from the FAA, including radar data and a transcript of conversation between the pilot and air traffic control.

"I pretty much have a good idea of what might have happened," Wilson said, though he added the cause may not be identified for six months.

The four-seat Cessna crashed into the home just before 1:30 p.m. Friday, killing Wardlaw, 58, and Judith Kirchner, 62, who was at home with her husband.

"It looks like he was turning trying to get back toward the airport," Wilson said, noting that Friday's overcast skies may have impacted the flight. "He was in a steep turn when he crashed."

The plane came in from the north, clipping a tree in the yard next door to Kirchner's house and missing the neighbor's home by about 15 feet, Gwinnett Fire spokesman Capt. Thomas Rutledge said.

Kirchner's husband escaped the resulting blaze, and was mostly uninjured,  Rutledge said.

"He was very lucky," Rutledge said of Kirchner's husband, who was in an upstairs room in the back of the house. "He said he felt a vibration, then the wall move. From that instant, there was the explosion."

Rutledge said Kirchner's husband had to feel his way through thick smoke and heat to the front of the home, where the front doors had been blown off.

"We need to collect maintenance records from the plane and wait until witness information becomes more clear," he said.

The crew had collected about one-third of the plane wreckage by Saturday evening when the crew was packing up for the day, Wilson said.

On the front lawn where a two-story home used to stand, lay dozens of pieces of a scorched metal and plastic arranged in specific quadrants -- all parts of the wreckage, Wilson said.

"We've found what was left of the engine," he said, including the crank shaft, cams, piston jugs, cylinders and "the engine casing that was completely melted."

The Cessna had a 90-gallon fuel tank, Wilson said, although it is unclear whether it was full of fuel at the time of the crash. But Wilson acknowledged that the fuel contributed to a "very hot fire."

Kirchner's husband is with a daughter living in the area, officials said.

Staff writers Mashaun D. Simon, Kristi Swartz and Larry Hartstein contributed to this article.