A 21-year-old pilot was heard pleading for help navigating the skies in poor visibility in Florida – then asked air traffic control to tell his parents he loved them moments before he crashed and died.
“I don’t think I can hold my height without going down,” the young man flying the single-engine Cherokee Piper 180, which he bought just two weeks earlier, said over the radio, according to audio obtained by WUFT.
“How many miles am I from Gainesville?” he pleaded shortly before crashing at a state park there Tuesday afternoon.
“I’m losing altitude,” he told air traffic controllers before asking them to deliver a heartbreaking message of love to his parents.
The young pilot who was killed was not officially identified in the Federal Aviation Administration’s initial report.
However, the doomed plane had been purchased just two weeks earlier by Adrien James Valentine, 21, of Melrose, Florida, according to WUFT, which said the young man’s father hung up the phone when asked about the tragedy.
A 21-year-old Florida pilot asked air traffic control to tell his parents he loved them shortly before he was killed when his plane crashed in poor visibility.WCJB
Kissimmee airport manager Ramon Senorans told the outlet that the plane took off under visual flight rules, or VFR, meaning the pilot was required to stay clear of clouds and maintain at least 1,000 feet above ground level.
The pilot was reportedly warned that his destination airport was under instrument flight rules, IFR, meaning that flight with visual reference was unsafe and must be conducted using instrument navigation.
Moments before departure, the guard encouraged him to wait as it seemed things were getting better.
Piper is similar to a crashed plane. AlfvanBeem / Wikimedia
“Looks like it’s updating now to be non-IFR, showing some (clouds) at 800 (feet),” the controller said. “So, if you wait a minute or two, we’ll be VFR.”
The pilot took off about three minutes later, according to the outlet.
But after encountering poor visibility later, he ended up crashing into the ground at about 300 mph. Rescuers found the wreckage before sunset Tuesday night.
On Wednesday, the FAA said in a preliminary report only that the plane, whose pilot was not identified, crashed due to “unknown circumstances.”
The National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA are investigating the crash.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
