CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – Two months after a fiery plane crash in Keystone Heights killed the pilot, a newly released report sheds light on what happened moments before impact.
Back in November, 46-year-old Warren Cilliers died when his Extra 330 aerobatic plane crashed at Keystone Heights Airport.
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According to the National Transportation Safety Board, Cilliers was practicing for an upcoming aerobatic competition when he lost control of the aircraft.
The NTSB report states that moments before the crash, Cilliers was performing a series of aerobatic maneuvers. One maneuver was a pilot-induced inverted flat spin, where the pilot intentionally makes the plane spin while falling upside down like a leaf.
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Aviation expert Ed Booth said the NTSB is still trying to determine why the pilot could not recover the plane, as there was no apparent problem with the engine.
Booth explained, “Be it a medical event. Some sort of disorientation caused by G-forces, or misapplication of the controls.”
Booth went on to explain how an aerobatic plane that goes into an inverted flat spin can cause issues, saying that when this happens, a pilot has to be very precise in how they operate the flight controls.
“One wrong move could lead to a disaster,” he said. Booth further noted, “If you push when you should pull, or even a minor variation in the proper recovery technique can have disastrous results.”
The plane’s owner, who witnessed the crash, told investigators that after six rotations, the pilot tried to fly out of the spin while inverted but did not have enough altitude. The plane re-entered the spin and crashed while still inverted.
The NTSB reviewed video showing the plane’s engine was throttled to full power just before the crash.
The Extra 330 is designed to withstand high gravity forces that can cause a pilot to experience G-LOC, or gravity-induced loss of consciousness.
Booth said, “Somewhere around 12Gs is the published limit of this airplane. The human body cannot remain conscious with that type of G-load. The saying about this airplane is that it can put you to sleep.”
The final NTSB crash report has not yet been published.