HAZLE TOWNSHIP, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — A longtime local pilot is paying close attention to what happened Friday night in Philadelphia, from the moment the plane went up in the sky to the time it came crashing down.
The retired airline captain now flies a very similar jet to the one that crashed in Philly.
He has some thoughts about what went so horribly wrong.
For nearly six decades, Michael Mariscano has flown planes and helicopters, including an aircraft similar to the Learjet 55 that crashed Friday night in north Philadelphia.
"To me from what I saw it was a control problem. It was probably either a control malfunction or a complete failure," Mariscano said.
The retired airline captain, corporal pilot, and state police helicopter pilot is the captain of the Citation 650 jet.
He says the loss of control on a plane like this could be for many reasons including broken ailerons, the small flaps on the wings, or a malfunctioned elevator at the rear, or even a deflected rudder directing the plane.
"If one of those three systems fail, the airplane will go out of control and the pilot will be unable to recover from it," Mariscano explained.
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Mariscano compares the sudden crash to that of a car losing its brakes on black ice.
"The car goes out of control, you're along for the ride, so to speak, you can do whatever you want with the steering, where, but the wheels aren't responding it," Mariscano continued.
After little communication, there was silence from the pilots on board.
"They were more concerned about controlling the airplane then talking to anybody," Mariscano stated.
Mariscano explains what the pilot and co-pilot of the Philly flight were most likely experiencing in the cockpit when the plane was coming down 11,000 feet per minute at about 240 miles per hour.
Once that happened, Mariscano says there was no end in sight and the plane was only going in one direction deadly fast.
"Something went awry that day. It's Horrible hopefully the NTSB will find what happened so it never happens again," Mariscano said.
Mariscano says the jet was based out of Mexico and maintained in Mexico.
Mariscano says right now he anticipates investigators are looking at the radar, fuel levels, and physical evidence.
