Pilot in Rosewood neighborhood crash missed his approach, safety report says
A pilot who died in a Jan. 13 plane crash in Columbia’s Rosewood neighborhood missed his approach to the Jim Hamilton-L.B. Owens Airport, a federal report said.
Those were among the findings in a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board released Thursday. Greenville pilot Farhad Rostampour died on Jan. 13 when his Beech F33A crashed into a home on the 2900 block of Kennedy Street in Rosewood.
The 62-year-old pilot was the only occupant of the plane in the fiery crash.
A native of Iran and a longtime pilot, Rostampour had previously flown the plane around the world.
The NTSB report said Rostampour left Greenville at 9:59 a.m. Jan. 13, headed for Columbia. At 10:20 a.m., he requested clearance to fly using his instruments. He received that clearance from air traffic controllers, and he continued heading toward Owens Airport, at one point climbing to more than 5,300 feet in altitude.
Rostampour reportedly requested a pilot report at about 10:15 a.m. About fifteen minutes later, air traffic control offered missed approach instructions, and, two minutes later, Rostampour said he would be performing procedures for a missed approach. He asked about weather conditions at the small Columbia airport. That day was a foggy morning in Columbia.
Shortly after the pilot asked for the weather conditions, radar contact with the plane was lost, the report said. The air traffic controller made several attempts to establish communications, but the controller never again heard from Rostampour.
“According to several witnesses who heard the airplane during the final moments of the flight, the engine sounded normal,” the report said. “One eyewitness saw the airplane emerge from the fog in a left wing low attitude and hit the roof of a residence.”
That matches eyewitness accounts gathered by The State on the morning of the crash.
“It was super foggy at the time,” Rosewood resident John Thelan said Jan. 13. “Standing on my porch, you could hardly see the fence across the backyard (because of the fog). Then we hear this loud, rumbling noise from the plane. It sounded like things were operational with the plane. It didn’t sound like anything was going on with the engine.
“So, it’s coming in our direction and, at the last second, it breaks through the fog and does a big left-handed turn. It dodged us and clipped our backdoor neighbor’s house. It hit the ground and exploded twice.”
The NTSB noted its Jan. 28 report was preliminary and that any errors would be corrected at the time of a final report. No timeframe was offered as to when the final report may come.
This story was originally published January 29, 2021 at 8:28 AM.
