Three Died Returning Home After Dancing

Police revealed Thursday that toxicology tests show the pilot of a Piper Cherokee that went down last month had been drinking prior to the accident that claimed his life and the lives of two others.

George L. Greening had a blood alcohol level of .045 percent at the time the plane he was flying went down outside La Vista, NE, according to local police. That is just above the legal limit for pilots of .04 as set by the FAA. It also indicates Greening likely violated the eight-hour "bottle to throttle" rule.

As was reported by Aero-News, Greening and two passengers -- his ex-wife, Julie, and their friend Pamela Britt had flown to the Millard Airport, just west of Omaha, from Abilene, KS to go dancing. Their plane went down in dense fog just after taking off the night of December 28.

While it was unclear at the time when, exactly, the aircraft went down that night, investigators have since constructed a timeframe based on interviews with airport personnel and the taxi drivers who drove the three from the dance hall to the airport.

The plane took off at approximately 11:50 pm, according to La Vista Police Chief Bob Lausten, and went down five minutes later. Radar records show the aircraft was probably in trouble from the beginning, with variances in altitude from 450 ft to 1000 ft AGL before it dropped off of radar.

It's also likely the aircraft never broke out of the dense fog that enveloped the city at the time Greening -- who had just received his ticket eight months before, but was not IFR-rated -- took off. Weather reports quoted in the NTSB Preliminary Report describe visibility of less than 1 1/2 miles at the time of the crash.

In fact, the fog was so thick it obscured the wreckage -- which was close to a busy highway intersection -- until after 10 am the next morning, according to media reports.

While it's not difficult to form an idea how the accident came about -- and what contributing factors were involved -- the final determination is in the hands of the NTSB.

Investigator Ed Malinowski told the Associated Press he had not yet received the toxicology or autopsy results.

FMI: Read The NTSB Preliminary Report