NTSB report may hamper lawsuits in Carnahan crash

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A report on a test of an airplane part could hamper the wrongful death lawsuits filed in the plane crash that killed Gov. Mel Carnahan, his son and a campaign aide.

However, a lawyer for the family questioned the report's accuracy Friday and reiterated that the Carnahans would proceed with the lawsuits, The Kansas City Star reported Saturday.

The report was among thousands of files and documents about the crash that the National Transportation Safety Board released earlier this month.

The lawsuits were filed in December 2000, two months after Carnahan, his aide Chris Sifford and his son Randy Carnahan died when their plane went down south of St. Louis on a stormy night. Randy Carnahan was piloting the plane.

The plaintiffs blamed the Oct. 16, 2000, crash on a malfunctioning vacuum pump and manifold system, which has been an issue in lawsuits involving other plane crashes.

During the flight, Randy Carnahan reported problems with his attitude indicator, which is controlled by the system. The attitude indicator, also known as the artificial horizon, tells whether the plane is banking and whether the nose is high or low.

According to the report, a test on the system completed Jan. 4, 2001, "does not indicate that either one of the Air Pumps or the Check Valve Manifold were inoperative at the time."

The examination was conducted at the NTSB laboratory in Washington, D.C., and was attended by two NTSB investigators, two NTSB engineers, and investigators from Ohio-based Parker Hannifin Corp., which manufactures the system and wrote the report, and Cessna Aircraft Co. Cessna and Parker Hannifin are defendants in the lawsuits.

The Carnahans' attorney, Gary Robb, said Parker Hannifin's conclusion was at odds with metallurgical testing done by the NTSB and the family's engineers and consultants.

The NTSB's final report on the crash should be released in the next few weeks.