The National Transportation Safety Board had determined that a July 2007 accident in Sanford, Fla., which killed the two people aboard the airplane and three on the ground, was caused by a series of poor decisions by Nascar‘s flight department management and the pilots who flew the accident aircraft.
The Cessna 310R, operated by Nascar’s aviation division, crashed after the pilot reported an in-flight fire.
According to the NTSB, the accident was due to Nascar’s allowing the airplane to be released for flight with a known and unresolved electrical system problem, and the accident pilot’s decision to operate the airplane with full knowledge of the maintenance discrepancy.
The NTSB recommended that initial and recurrent training of maintenance personnel working on general aviation aircraft include best practices regarding the inspection and maintenance of electrical systems, circuit breakers and wiring. The NTSB also recommended that manufacturers and those responsible for post-manufacture modifications improve guidance or create new guidelines regarding which circuit breakers pilots should and should not attempt to reset before or during flight.
