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Air traffic controllers made three attempts in about 35 seconds to contact the pilot of a small plane that crashed in the township last month, but the pilot did not respond, according to a preliminary report on the crash by the National Transportation Safety Board.
The report, while not final, provides additional information on the crash that took the life of 61-year-old Pankaj Mohan of Lawrenceville, the founder and CEO of Princeton-based Sonnet BioTherapeutics.
Controllers contacted Mohan about 2 minutes and 45 seconds after his 10:30 a.m. takeoff from Princeton Airport, according to the report. Controllers asked Mohan to “ident,” meaning send an identifying pulse on his transponder so that controllers could pinpoint his aircraft.
Mohan complied with the request, according to the report.
“At 1033:49, the controller instructed the pilot to climb to 3,000 feet and turn right to a heading
of 180°; however, the pilot did not reply,” the report states. “At 1034:19, the controller advised the pilot that he was descending and needed to climb, but again received no reply. At 1034:24, the controller
contacted the airplane again and asked for a radio check, but no further communications were
received from the accident airplane.”
The plane – a 2024 Cirrus SR22 – crashed at 10:34:36 – less than five minutes after takeoff – in a wooded area of Six Mile Run about 400 feet in from the intersection of Hilltop Lane and Zapf Court, according to data gathered from the plane’s Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast system.
According to the NTSB report, the plane descended at a 50-degree angle before it severed some trees and left a 30-foot-long debris area.
The cockpit was crushed, but data was successfully downloaded from the airplane’s remote data
module, according to the report.
The rear part of the aircraft – the empennage – was crushed and located on top of the wreckage, according to the report. The elevator – which controls the up and down movement of a plane – and rudder – which controls the plane’s left and right movements – were still attached.
The left wing fragmented and was found with the wreckage, according to the report. The left flap and left aileron – which controls a plane’s roll – were still attached.
The right wing was located about 20 feet from the main wreckage, the report said, and the right aileron separated and the right flap remained attached.
The report said that Mohan had filed an instrument flight rules flight plan, and that he had qualified for instrument flying in March 2024.
Mohan had 296 hours in the air, according to his latest application for an FAA third-class medical certificate in June 2023.
“A determination could not be made of the pilot’s total actual instrument experience, or his actual instrument experience in the same make and model as the accident airplane,” the report said.
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