Twin Engine Aero Commander Crashes Into Chicago Home

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Twin Engine Aero Commander Crashes Into Chicago Home

November 18, 2014 - At about 2:45 AM an unidentified pilot operating Aero Commander 500B, N30MB, departed Chicago-Midway Airport, IL for Wheeling-Chicago Executive Airport, IL. As the Aero Commander departed the field it developed engine problems.

The pilot advised air traffic control (ATC) he was having a problem with his left engine and that he was returning back to the airport. ATC gave the pilot advisories, gave him the options of runways to land on, it was agreed the pilot would land on runway 31C and he was cleared to land with the wind at 250 at 15 MPH.

You could hear in the pilots voice he was having great difficulties. Moments later you could hear the controller say "you still with me"? Another pilot came on the air and stated the aircraft went down. The controller then stated "it looks like he just went down short 31C".

While on the approach the 1964 twin engine Aero Commander cashed into a home while he was on his base leg for runway 31C about a quarter-mile southeast of the field. The aircraft crashed nose down between two houses.

It was reported that the elderly couple (82 and 84) living in the house managed to get out of the home uninjured with the assistance of a neighbor. The pilot has been reported to be deceased. The aircraft is registered to Central Airlines Inc (Central Air Southwest) out of Fairway, Kansas with operations at the Wheeler Downtown Airport.

Back in June 2008, the company suffered another Aero Commander 500S (N411JT) plane crash when the two commercial pilots onboard reported the loss of engine power to both engines. This was a training flight in which Murray Brown, 47 , the company's chief pilot/director of operations and James Phillip Jamper, 24 was receiving a flight check. Both pilots were killed in the crash near Linwood, Kansas. At the time the aircraft was registered to Central Airlines and operated by Central Air Southwest, Kansas City, Missouri.

The National Transportation Safety Board ruled the cause of this accident was due to pilot error. The pilot-in-training inadvertently shut off both engine fuel control valves causing a loss of power to both engines, and the pilot's failure to maintain control of the airplane resulted in a stall. Contributing to the accident was the chief pilot's inadequate supervision of the pilot-in-training.

Central Airlines has been in operations since 1974, it is an all-cargo, on-demand air carrier operating on unpublished schedules. The company website reports it operates 32 Twin Commander 500 B’s servicing approximately 50 daily departures throughout the Central, Northern and Southern United States.