In the final report scheduled to be released at noon today the National Transportation Safety Board sites pilot error and electronic failure as the cause of death for the 10 Oklahoma State University employees and students who died in January, 2001.
In a statement from one of the victims’ families, “The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable cause of this accident was the pilot’s spatial disorientation resulting from his failure to maintain positive manual control of the airplane with available flight instrumentation.
“Also contributing to the cause of the accident was the loss of AC electrical power during instrument meteorological conditions.”
Paul Slam, representative from the NTSB, would not comment on the findings of the organization or on the content of the report as a whole.
Zane Fleming, father of Nate Fleming, said, “We conducted our own investigation, and we paid for it ourselves. … The findings that we got back from our research team were exactly the same probable cause as the NTSB found.
“Even though it is more bad news, family- and friend-wise, it validates the work we are doing and helps us to think we are headed in the right direction to find out what we want to find out,” Fleming said.
The media relations department at OSU would not comment on the NTSB report or Fleming’s findings.
The university released a statement detailing its plan for reviewing the situation:
“Oklahoma State University is reviewing the nine-page letter and 67-page report from the National Transportation Safety Board concerning the cause of the plane crash that killed 10 members of the OSU basketball program on Jan. 27, 2001.
“No report can mitigate the loss of 10 men or comfort 10 families who lost a son, father, husband or brother. Our sympathy and support for these families continues as we approach the second anniversary of the accident.”
Fleming said the travel policy now in place is a good comprehensive policy.
“As long as it is enforced, it will be a good travel policy for all the student athletes who come through the university,” he said.
This policy was not in effect when the 2001 plane crash occurred.
“It was not enforced prior to the crash,” Fleming said. “If more care would have been taken, this crash could have been avoided and all those men would be with us now, but that is the way things happen.”
OSU officials issued a similar statement concerning the current travel policy at the university:
“In the months following the tragedy, OSU worked with national transportation experts, athletic officials and family members to develop a model policy for collegiate team travel. That policy is in effect at OSU today and was presented to the National Association of Collegiate Athletic Directors last summer.”
Fleming reiterated the extreme feeling of loss resulting from losing a family member and said, “We are sick about it, but positive things have happened since the crash. We all have found joy and are all moving forward. We still have the goal in mind to get to the bottom of this, but the report being finished helps to validate our cause.”
The bottom line in this case is clear, he said, “This did not have to happen. … All those men were innocent.”
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