AUSTIN, Texas - The National Transportation Safety Board has released its preliminary investigation report into a plane crash that killed five pickleball players last month in Texas.
The NTSB report found that airspeed equipment on the plane froze up, then the plane made erratic turns before breaking apart and crashing.
PREVIOUS REPORTING: Texas plane crash: Victims were members of same pickleball club
What they're saying:
The report says that while en route to New Braunfels, the pilot of the Cessna 421 reported that his pitot heat, an essential anti-icing system, was inoperable.
While the plane was descending on approach to the airport, the pilot said that his pitot tube, a device used to help measure a plane's airspeed, had iced up and he was using backup gauges.
The pilot wanted to move to a lower altitude to "warm back up."
Minutes before the crash, the pilot acknowledged a radio frequency change, but shortly after that, the plane turned left, made a near 180-degree right turn, then maneuvered south into a descending right turn.
The plane broke up in the air and then crashed. The NTSB says the wreckage debris field was over a mile wide.
What's next:
This is only a preliminary report. The investigation into the crash is ongoing.
Plane crash kills 5 near Wimberley
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5 killed in Texas plane crash identified
Authorities have identified the five people who were killed when a small plane crashed near Wimberley late Thursday night.
The backstory:
The crash happened at around 11:03 p.m. April 30 in a wooded area in the 200 block of Round Rock Road, near the area of Ledgerock Road and FM 2325, northwest of Wimberley.
The plane, identified as a Cessna 421C, was on its way to New Braunfels from Amarillo.
A preliminary investigation shows the plane was traveling at a high rate of speed at the time of the crash, but there is no indication of a midair crash. A second plane traveling in the same area landed safely in New Braunfels.
Flight tracking data shows the plane had a normal takeoff, climbing to 17,400 feet, but just before 11 p.m., something went wrong. The data showed the plane suddenly started dropping, plunging more than 5,000 feet per minute. Within minutes, radar contact was lost.
Seren Wilson, Brooke Skypala, Stacy Hedrick, Justin "Glen" Appling, and Hayden Dillard were all killed in the crash. Appling was the pilot, says Texas DPS. The five of them were pickleball players from Amarillo going to a tournament in New Braunfels.
The Source: Information in this report comes from the National Transportation Safety Board and previous reporting by FOX 7 Austin