PLANE CRASH: Pilot Was Unlicensed, Inspectors say one engine might have failed

The pilot of the twin-engine Cessna 411 that crashed on a street in East Hampton Village on Oct. 23 was not licensed to fly twin-engine airplanes, according to a preliminary report released this week by the National Transportation Safety Board. The report said that the plane's left engine might have malfunctioned, but did not give a definite cause of the crash.

William Holdgate, a 50-year-old contractor from Nantucket, Mass., was killed when the plane crashed on Mill Hill Lane at 1:40 that afternoon. He was en route from Jefferson, Ga., to Nantucket, and it was his first flight in the plane, which he had bought in 2003.

Mr. Holdgate had 350 hours of experience flying single-engine planes since he was licensed in 1979, according to Federal Aviation Administration records. Private pilot certification requires between 35 and 40 hours of flight and a written test. Licensed private pilots are permitted to fly single-engine planes in good weather.

Although Mr. Holdgate had flown more than the 180 to 250 hours required for a commercial pilot license, James Brundige, the manager of East Hampton Airport, said that 350 hours is not a lot of air time for an experienced pilot.

The manager at the Nantucket Airport said that Mr. Holdgate was only known to fly single-engine planes and had kept an ultralight plane at the airport for about a year.

The F.A.A. requires that pilots over 40 be certified by an approved medical examiner every two years. Mr. Holdgate received medical certification in January 2004.

Investigators said that a loss of power in the left engine was a possible cause of the crash. Safety Board investigators discovered a hole in the top of that engine's crankcase. Portions of a connecting rod cap and bearing were found in the oil sump. One piston had seized and connecting rods were broken and blackened from heat. It is not clear if the heat was caused by the engine or by several small fires that surrounded the wreckage after impact.

Damage to the right engine appeared to have been a result of the crash, inspectors said; that engine had not malfunctioned in flight.

Although the body of the plane was crushed, the rudder and the vertical stabilizer were still connected to the cockpit controls, the report said.

The previous owner of the plane, John Schisler of Georgia, told Luke Schiada, the N.T.S.B. investigator, that the Cessna was stored at the Jackson County Airport in Georgia until Mr. Holdgate picked it up on Oct. 23. According to the Safety Board, the plane's most recent annual inspection was made in June 2004. Mr. Schisler said that in the six years before he sold it, the plane was flown for just 30 hours.

The Safety Board said that a final report might not be available for at least a year. The cause of a helicopter crash in East Hampton in November 2002 was released 16 months after the accident.