Texas plane crash: Airspeed equipment froze up, NTSB prelim report finds

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.

Pilot, flight instructor offers insight

Dig deeper:

Pilot and flight instructor Gene Robinson says that what stands out the most from the report is that the crash was "probably preventable".

"Most of us would have said, wow, that weather for that night; we wouldn't have gone up in an aircraft that size. We just wouldn't have done it. That's the main conclusion that I've gotten out of all my talks with all my other pilot friends, and the NTSB report confirms that," Robinson said.

He adds that there were certain things about that flight that should have been a warning flag.

"Certainly, the weather was one of them. Nighttime flying, anything at night when it comes to aviation, you have to be significantly more experienced," Robinson said.

Robinson also looked at specific details of the report, including the fact that the pilot's pitot tube was iced-over.

"He had mentioned that he was going to backup gauges, which unfortunately, those gauges rely on the pitot tube sensor as well. And there was very little he can do at that point to try to control the aircraft," Robinson said. 

He added, "It appeared that he was flying manually. There was no autopilot involved. And the aircraft going from one extreme to an extreme dive to extreme climb. The pilot pushed the aircraft past its structural limitation, and it started coming apart from being overstressed."

Robinson's final thoughts?

"I have to say that those last few minutes of that flight had to be absolutely terrifying. And I feel in my... Prayers go out to their families because that is just a tragedy, and it could have been prevented."

Plane crash kills 5 near Wimberley

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.

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