NTSB Releases Preliminary Report on Roush Crash

The National Transportation Safety Board has released a preliminary report providing details about the August 6 crash of a Hawker Beechcraft Premier IA during the EAA AirVenture show in Oshkosh, Wis. According to the NTSB, the Premier, piloted by Roush Fenway Nascar team owner Jack Roush, was recorded on amateur video "in a left base turn to final for Runway 18R. The airplane appeared to overshoot the runway centerline during this turn and then level its wings momentarily before entering a slight right bank simultaneously as the nose of the airplane pitched up."

The Premier then turned left toward the runway centerline and began a descent. During the descent the airplane's pitch appeared to increase until it entered a right bank and "struck the grass area west of the runway in a nose-down, right-wing-low attitude." In an August 13 interview published on the Roush Fenway Racing Web site, Roush said that despite loss of sight in his left eye, a broken jaw and compression fracture of his back, he will fly again. In a widely broadcast interview on August 13 at the Michigan Speedway, Roush said, "On a trip arrival into Oshkosh, I was put in conflict with the flight plan of another airplane close to the ground and I was unable to address the conflict and keep the airplane flying. I ground-looped the airplane."

In an ATC tape of the accident, Roush is heard asking the controller, "Is 6JR [Roush's callsign] going to be okay with this?" He presumably is referring to a Piper on short final ahead of his airplane. The controller responds, "Affirmative." Seconds before the crash, Roush is heard uttering, "Don't think so."