2004 Martinsville plane crash

2004 Martinsville plane crash

Flight path taken by the plane.
Accident summary
Date	October 24, 2004 (2003-10-24)
Type	Pilot error
Site	Bull Mountain, Patrick County, near Stuart, Virginia, USA
Passengers	8
Crew	2
Survivors	0
Aircraft type	Beechcraft Super King Air 200
Operator	Hendrick Motorsports
Tail number	N501RH
Flight origin	Concord, North Carolina
Destination	Blue Ridge Airport Martinsville, Virginia

The October 2004 Martinsville plane crash^[1] occurred on 24 October 2004 when a Beechcraft Super King Air 200 aircraft owned by Hendrick Motorsports crashed into Bull Mountain, seven miles from Blue Ridge Airport, Martinsville, Virginia. All ten aboard the plane were killed, among them members of the Hendrick family including John Hendrick, president of Hendrick Motorsports; and former NASCAR Busch Series driver and owner Ricky Hendrick.

Crash

The King Air took off from Concord, North Carolina at 12 pm EST, carrying ten passengers. 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 en route to the Subway 500 Nextel Cup Series race at Martinsville, Virginia when it was reported missing at 3:00 pm. After an extensive search by a ground team of the Danville Composite Squadron of Civil Air Patrol as well as others, the wreckage of the plane was found at Bull Mountain at 11 pm. No one on board survived.^[2]

NASCAR received word of the plane crash during the 2004 Subway 500 in Martinsville. After the race was over, NASCAR immediately summoned all the Hendrick Motorsports drivers– including race winner Jimmie Johnson– to the NASCAR hauler and all victory lane ceremonies were cancelled.^[2]

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.^[3]

Pilot error as a cause

The NTSB suggested that pilot error was the cause of the crash, partly by:

• the plane missing its first landing attempt before veering off course and crashing;^[4]
• the plane not climbing to its temporarily assigned altitude of 2,600 feet; it instead descended to 1,800 feet before crashing.^[5]

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.^[6]

Aftermath

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.^[7]

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".^[7]

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.^[7]

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.^[7]

Impact on Hendrick Motorsports

2004 Hendrick Motorsports #25 Ditech/GMAC Monte Carlo. The hood design pays tribute to the people killed in the plane crash.

On February 18, 2005, Marshall Carlson, Rick Hendrick's son in law, signed on as new general manager.^[8]

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.^[9] At the Hendrick museum in Concord, North Carolina, 300 people showed up for a candlelight vigil in honor of the ten victims.^[10]

The Randy Dorton Trophy now goes to the winner of the Mahle Engine Builders Challenge.

See also

• NASCAR
• Hendrick Motorsports

References

1. ^ The Martinsville Plane Crash, October 25, 2004. Accessed August 9, 2006.
2. ^ ^{a b} WCNC (2004) "Hendrick plane crashes en route to NASCAR race; 10 killed". Accessed August 11, 2006.
3. ^ Kurz jr, Hank "Hendrick Motorsports Plane Crash Kills 10. Accessed August 11, 2006.
4. ^ MSNBC "All 10 bodies located from Hendrick plane crash, Associated Press. Accessed August 11, 2006.
5. ^ "NTSB: Hendrick plane did not climb before crash", Associated Press. Accessed August 11, 2006.
6. ^ NTSB (2004) NTSB Report on the Crash. Link updated 15 October 2011.
7. ^ ^{a b c d} WCNC (2006) "Widow working to find out what happened in crash". Accessed August 11, 2006.
8. ^ Clarke, Liz: Washington Post article. Accessed August 11, 2006.
9. ^ "Jimmie Johnson nabs poignant win". Associated Press. 2004-11-01. http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2004/nov/01/jimmie_johnson_nabs/. Retrieved 2006-09-22. 
10. ^ Felix, Ron Tragedy At Hendrick Motorsports (insiderracingnews.com). Accessed August 11, 2006.

Coordinates: 36°42′22″N 80°11′32″W / 36.70611°N 80.19222°W / 36.70611; -80.19222