FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. – The National Transportation Safety Board continues its investigation into the crash of a small plane in a wooded area of Flagler County on Friday night.
The pilot, who was the only one on board, died in the crash, which was reported near the Volusia County line. He has not yet been officially identified.
It took investigators hours of searching the dense woods overnight to find the wreckage, which has now been transported to a facility in Jacksonville to be pieced back together.
Because the aircraft did not have a black box, investigators will have to rely on other methods to determine the cause of the crash.
According to the NTSB, the pilot was an experienced aviator with approximately 8,000 flight hours and was en route to conduct a skydiving mission in Palatka.
Preliminary information from the NTSB indicates that the pilot left Sebastian Municipal Airport near Vero Beach at 5:50 p.m. on Friday, heading for Palatka.
The plane flew north, navigating around weather conditions at altitudes between 900 and 3,000 feet.
The aircraft made a right turn and then disappeared from radar before crashing around 6:40 p.m. in a swampy area.
“We’re still trying to ascertain what happened at that point. The altitude was fluctuating, not egregiously, but they were going up and down several hundred feet at a time,” said Aaron McCarter, an NTSB aviation accident investigator.
Monday morning, the NTSB sent News4JAX this statement:
On scene, the investigator began the process of documenting the scene and examining the aircraft. Part of the investigation will be to request radar data, weather information, maintenance records, and the pilot’s medical records. NTSB investigators will look at the human, machine, and environment as the outline of the investigation.
NTSB
“The human being, the pilot, his qualifications his medical records. How many flight hours did he have? Right now, we have preliminary information that he has 8,000 flight hours, so he was a seasoned pilot,” McCarter said. “We also know he was a skydiving pilot, that’s what this operation was. It was an operation to take skydivers unfortunately didn’t make it to the destination.”
Investigators expect to release their preliminary findings within a month. The preliminary report will contain factual information from the initial investigation phase.
A probable cause of the crash, along with any contributing factors, will be detailed in the final report, which may take up to two years.
Witnesses to the accident or those who have surveillance video or other information that could be relevant to the investigation are asked to contact the NTSB at witness@ntsb.gov.
