Plane crash blamed on wiring error

SPANISH FORK — Federal officials say a wiring error caused the crash of an experimental plane that killed two people on July 25.

The wing flaps of the Spectrum 33 twin-engine jet were incorrectly connected to the control stick of the plane, the National Transportation Safety Board said in its first report on the crash at Spanish Fork-Springville Airport. Problems with the linkage meant left roll controls would actually make the plane turn into a right roll and vice versa.

When the small aircraft departed, it immediately rolled right and crashed into the ground, killing Glenn Maben, 53, and Nathan Forrest, 25.

The plane's right wing was down about 90 degrees when it struck the ground, the report said. A majority of the plane's wreckage was found about 750 feet from where the wing first struck the ground.

Maben was director of flight operations for Spectrum Aeronautical LLC, and Forrest was vice director.

Spectrum Aeronautical, based in Cardiff by the Sea, Calif., is developing the Spectrum 33, a twin-engine plane made of carbon fiber, in Utah County.

The plane had accumulated 44 hours of flying time before the crash, but the flight on July 25 was the first since the plane's flap linkage had been disconnected and reassembled during a maintenance check, the NTSB said.

The last successful flight the plane made was on June 30.

Spectrum Aeronautical's partner, Rocky Mountain Composites, is the company that built and maintained the plane. It declined to comment until the NTSB releases a final report.

Spectrum Aeronautical President Austin Blue said he agreed with the findings. The pilots apparently didn't check the flap controls before the flight.

"They were looking at a number of things on the airplane that day. Sadly we all missed this," Blue said Thursday.

When pilots suddenly are faced with an error like this in the air, "there is no time to correct the problem," he said.