Crash still a mystery

The cause of a 2007 plane crash in Charleston Harbor will remain a mystery, but a new report debunks speculation that a passenger might have contributed to the wreck.

The National Transportation Safety Board has released its final probable cause report on the crash of a World War II-era biplane that went down near Mount Pleasant in May 2007. The findings were inconclusive, the report said, and the incident has been ruled "an in-flight collision with water for undetermined reasons."

The wreck occurred when two Air Force veterans — Jacob Ralph Brown, 61, and James A. Powers, 76, both of James Island — were sightseeing aboard a 1943 Boeing Stearman PT-17 biplane at about 7 p.m. on May 23, 2007.

Several witnesses reported seeing the plane plummet to about 20 feet above the surface of the harbor before climbing and banking right just before its right wing hit the water near Crab Bank, near the Old Village of Mount Pleasant. Both men were killed.

Preliminary reports found no obvious mechanical problems with the plane, but some of Brown's friends and family suggested Powers may have caused the accident by pulling a lever that locked the plane's controls, making it impossible to fly. In December, experts said the lever could not have been activated accidentally, but the NTSB report said differently.

Federal investigators found evidence the plane's fuselage, upon impact, struck the lever and locked it in position. The aircraft's controls were not in a position consistent with the lever having been activated before the crash, the report said.

Lee Campbell, Powers' stepson, said he was satisfied with the outcome and the ruling, but he was not surprised.

"I knew the truth all along," Campbell said.

Reach Brian Hicks at 937-5561 or bhicks@postandcourier.com.