Jun. 7—Improper maintenance and the pilots' failure to abort during takeoff were the likely causes of a fatal plane crash in Keene in 2022, a final report from the National Transportation Safety Board states.
The Beech A24, a single-engine, four-seater prop plane, crashed into a shed attached to a multi-family apartment building on Lower Main Street in Keene near the Swanzey line on Oct. 21, 2022. The crash killed both men onboard and sparked a three-alarm fire — damaging about 20 percent of the rear of the building, which has since been demolished, and displacing nine people.
Lawrence Marchiony, 41, of Baldwinville, Mass., and Marvin David Dezendorf, 60, of Townshend, Vt., were identified as the plane's two occupants and the only people on board. Both men were pilot-rated, according to an NTSB official in 2022, but the report notes them as a flight instructor and a pilot under instruction.
Dezendorf was a flight instructor at Monadnock Aviation, which owned the plane and is based at Keene's Dillant-Hopkins Airport, according to previous Sentinel reporting. Marchiony trained with him several years earlier, a 2017 Monadnock Aviation newsletter states.
A Monadnock Aviation representative declined to comment on the report. Owner Beth Bendel was not immediately available for comment.
The NTSB does not assign fault or blame for accidents.
The final report, dated May 30, found that none of the two-piece fuel injector nozzles had inserts or restrictors installed and they showed extensive leakage.
The report also stated the October flight was the first time the Beech A24 had been flown in more than 13 months. During that previous flight, on Sept. 4, 2021, the aircraft had had problems attributed to a plugged fuel injector.
Marchiony and Dezendorf were also occupants of the plane during the September 2021 flight, according to the report.
The airplane's last annual inspection was completed on Oct. 19, 2022, two days before the fatal accident, according to the NTSB report. The mechanic reported that the fuel injector nozzles were cleaned as part of the annual inspection, but a post-maintenance check flight was not performed after, the report states.
"It is likely that at some point after removing the inserts or restrictors for cleaning, they were not reinstalled," the report said.
Investigators also found that the plane's engine was not running at full power.
"Contributing to the accident was the mechanic's decision to return the airplane to service with the engine unable to attain its full rated power," the report said.
Witnesses reported during takeoff that the engine did not sound normal. A pilot-rated mechanic described hearing a momentary power reduction, followed by a power advance, according to the report.
The report noted the plane did not become airborne until it was about halfway down the runway, when it should have taken off more than 2,000 feet earlier. The report states they likely did not recognize during takeoff that the engine was producing less power than normal, which contributed to the crash.
"It is possible that the pilots initiated a rejected takeoff but chose to continue the flight, likely due to the limited remaining runway available for landing," the report said.
James Rinker is the education and business reporter for The Sentinel. You can reach him at [email protected] or 603-355-8569.
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