Federal investigators say severe weather played a key role in a fatal plane crash in Harrison County.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released its preliminary finding on the crash that killed one person and seriously injured another at the Cynthiana-Harrison County Airport on August 3.
The NTSB says in its report that at about 5:00 p.m. the pilot and his passenger departed the airport for a brief personal flight in a single-engine Piper J3C-65 Cub.
“About 10 minutes after departure, witnesses reported seeing an ‘intense’ thunderstorm coming in from the north. The storm consisted of a ‘wall cloud,’ (and) heavy rain that they could observe several miles out, as well as a rapid wind shift accompanied by an increase in wind speed. In addition, the temperature dropped about ‘fifteen degrees’ over a short period of time,” the NTSB said.
Additional witnesses told investigators that the plane returned to the airport about 10 minutes after taking off and “flew an unusually low airport traffic pattern,” as the aircraft approached the airport “at a low altitude, just over trees.”
After making a left turn to “join the downwind runway,” and in the aircraft’s final approach, it “suddenly descended in a left spin before impacting the ground adjacent to the runway.”
The plane came to rest about 20 feet right of the runway.
“Almost immediately after impact, heavy rain and wind began at the airport,” according to the NTSB report.
The male pilot suffered serious injuries while his female passenger was pronounced deceased at a local hospital.
(Photo: The single-engine Piper aircraft that went down in Harrison Co., courtesy of FoxLexington.com)
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
