AKRON, Ohio -- A former employee of the Florida-based charter jet company Execuflight told investigators that company officers destroyed or altered records in the aftermath of a fatal crash that killed nine people in Akron last year.
In depositions released by the National Transportation Safety Board earlier this month, former Execuflight pilot Donnie Shackleford said the company's executives filed paperwork that showed they fixed planes without actually performing maintenance and that they falsified the weights-and-balances measurement for the plane that crashed.
He went on to say that the pilot flying the doomed plane had expressed reservations about flying with the co-pilot -- stating that the pair did not have enough collective experience, and that "we're going to get ourselves killed."
Shackleford said Execuflight ordered him to lie to investigators, and that he lost his job after he refused to do so.
In his own deposition with NTSB investigators, Execuflight owner Daniel Lewkowicz denied the accusations and said his company is committed to safety.
An ill-fated flight
Renato Marchese, the 50-year-old pilot of the flight, and his captain and co-pilot Oscar Chavez, 40, were flying seven employees from Pebb Enterprises of Boca Raton, Florida, who were on a business trip scouting shopping malls to buy. They crashed Nov. 10 into an apartment building in Akron's Ellet neighborhood while en route to Akron Fulton International Airport.
The NTSB has not said what it believes to be the likely cause of the crash. The agency is expected to complete its investigation by next month.
NTSB investigators on Sept. 7 interviewed Shackleford, who is a veteran pilot with more than 20,000 hours in the air.
Shackleford told investigators that the company regularly pushed pilots to fly after they surpassed their maximum on-duty time set by federal law and that the executives "made such a scramble to change records and eliminate stuff right after the accident, it would make your head spin."
Pilot may have surpassed on-duty flying limits
Shackleford told investigators that Marchese already had surpassed his limit of on-duty hours when he began a three-day trip that included five other stops.
Shackleford described Marchese as "nervous," "timid," and having a "lack of confidence" when flying planes, and he told the NTSB that he had reservations about letting Marchese fly with passengers.
Marchese told Shackleford he was uncomfortable flying with Chavez as the plane's captain, specifically in bad weather. The pilots were forced to begin their descent through low hanging clouds the day of the crash.
Execuflight owner responds
In a Sept. 22 deposition, Lewkowicz said pilots are encouraged to report if they are not feeling up to flying and that pilots are responsible for keeping track of their own on-duty hours.
Lewkowicz said he checked with Marchese to see if he was comfortable with the back-to-back flights, and Marchese assured him he was.
Lewkowicz acknowledged, however, that the weights-and-balance measurements for the doomed flight were estimations. He said pilots often use a standard weight of 200 pounds per person.
The NTSB found the plane was 600 pounds overweight when it crashed.
NTSB investigators also questioned Lewkowicz about his decision to hire Marchese and Chavez. According to NTSB records, both were fired from their previous jobs -- Marchese for overall poor performance and Chavez for missing mandatory training.
Execuflight hired them in June 2015, and Lewkowicz told NTSB investigators he was unaware of the pilots' issues at their prior jobs. Lewkowicz said both had flying experience and came highly recommended.
Lewkowicz wrote in a separate letter to the NTSB that air-traffic controllers failed to provide the pilots with accurate and timely weather information.
The NTSB released the depositions just as as Textron, the company that manufactured the plane, released its own report blaming pilot error for the deadly crash.