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Bowen Law School Reception
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law welcomed students and their families during a reception Aug. 16 at the schools downtown campus.
With the federal government back open, a National Transportation Safety Board investigation is finally getting underway three weeks after a fatal plane crash in Soddy-Daisy claimed two lives, but some evidence may have been lost, the agency warns.
Pilot Frank Davey and his passenger, Lynda Marinello, were killed in the Jan. 7 crash. The plane reportedly went down in Chickamauga Lake near Camp Vesper Point after making a tight loop and then spiraling down into the water. The victims were recovered four days later, and the plane itself was brought up the next day.
On Wednesday, a Hamilton County Medical Examiner's report was released and ruled both deaths accidental as a result of "multiple blunt force injuries."
As for the cause of the crash, that is what the NTSB will try to determine - it investigates all civil aviation crashes.
But of the agency's 397 employees, 367 employees were furloughed during the 35-day partial government shutdown, according to the NTSB's website. Six investigators were recalled to work without pay on three international aviation crashes.
Marinello's daughter, Alaina Marinello, said her family is trying to stay patient as they wait for answers.
"We don't talk about it much because it's out of our hands," she said. "We just kind of have to wait it out, but we're eager to get more answers."
In the meantime, they're just trying to get back to work, Alaina Marinello said.
"My mom was a really hard worker and wouldn't want us to miss work," she said. "We're just trying to find a new normal."
With NTSB probes, investigators are typically on-scene either on the same day or day after, and the goal is to have a preliminary report ready within two weeks of a fatal crash, NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson said.
All employees returned to work Monday, and leadership has been assigning investigators to each of the 97 incidents that weren't looked into during the shutdown, Knudson said. Investigators won't physically visit every scene, though. That will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
"If a plane crashes in a body of water, there might not be that much there at the scene to document, but we still are very interested in looking at the wreckage itself," Knudson said.
With the Soddy-Daisy crash, "since there was no investigative activity until this week, that's sort of the clock starting now," Knudson said, adding he expects the preliminary report to be ready within a week or two.
But because so much time has passed, some perishable evidence may have been lost, which could prevent the determination of probable cause in some cases, an NTSB news release states.
Of the 97 crashes that didn't get NTSB scrutiny during the shutdown, 19 crashes - 15 of which involved airplanes - resulted in 30 deaths.
And work stopped on 1,815 ongoing aviation safety investigations, 33 ongoing rail, pipeline, and hazardous materials investigations, 44 ongoing marine investigations, and 21 ongoing highway investigations.
But if White House and Congressional leaders don't strike a deal to fund President Donald Trump's border wall, the government will be shut down again on Feb. 15, Trump has warned.
If that happens, NTSB investigations will again be halted, Knudson said.
Contact staff writer Rosana Hughes at rhughes@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6327 with tips or story ideas. Follow her on Twitter @Hughes Rosana.