In its preliminary report, the NTSB included an image of the accident site. The red line indicates the aircraft's approximate track based on radar data. The blue circle denotes the location of the main wreckage. [Courtesy: NTSB]
Key Takeaways:
The NTSB's preliminary investigation indicates that flybys of a friend's home may have contributed to the fatal crash of retired astronaut William Anders' Beechcraft T-34A Mentor.
Anders had informed a friend via text message about his planned flyby, a practice she described as not unusual, before his aircraft was observed making multiple passes along the coastline.
Witnesses reported the aircraft flying higher than usual, followed by a left wing drop and rapid descent; one witness recorded video showing the plane inverted, entering a steep dive, and then striking the water during an attempted recovery.
The final report on the accident, which claimed the life of the 90-year-old former military pilot and Apollo-era astronaut, is still months away.
Flybys of a friend’s home may have contributed to the fatal crash of a Beechcraft T-34A Mentor that claimed the life of retired astronaut William Anders last month in Washington state, according to investigators.
Anders, 90, was a retired military pilot and Air Force major general, Apollo-era NASA astronaut, and founder of the Heritage Flight Museum.
CREATE A FREE ACCOUNT
Sign up to keep reading
Create a free account to continue. Already a member? Sign in below.
Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.
