SANTA MONICA—New details about a plane crash that transpired on September 8, killing two, were revealed by the National Transportation Safety Board on Thursday, October 6.
According to the report, a pilot instructor and student were in a single-engine Piper Sport when it crashed and caught fire around 5 p.m. on September 8. The incident transpired on one of Santa Monica Airport’s runways. The victims were with Santa Monica Flyers.
Witnesses state that the plane came in for a hard landing and, “began to aggressively pitch up and climb, while the engine made a sound consistent with it going to full power.” The plane leveled off at the apex of the climb, then spinning to the left, descended, and collided into the ground. In the moments before the plane crashed you could hear the instructor screaming, “let go, let go……. let go, let go, let go!”
There was 45 minutes of instruction before the pair took off. Their plane was to fly to Malibu and back.
Aircraft Rescue Firefighters arrived in 1 minute 39 seconds and halted the flames within minutes. The aircraft was inbound to the airport when it touched down, made an abrupt upward maneuver before crashing in the infield. Both people inside the aircraft died during the accident. The names of those victims have not yet been disclosed to the public.
The safety board typically releases preliminary crash reports within weeks, with the final reports usually following several months later.
Written By Christianne McCormick and Casey Jacobs
