No definitive answers on Colonie plane crash

NTSB determines no obvious answer to cause of crash that killed Natalie Gillis

LOUDONVILLE – The National Transportation Safety Board issued its preliminary findings into the cause of the deadly June 17 plane crash near Albany Shaker Road that claimed the life of pilot Natalie Gillis, 34, of Canada and injured one person on the ground.

This is the first report the NTSB will issue and the final determination will take 18-24 months to complete.

The preliminary report confirms data provided by multiple sources the days after the crash and provides specific information about the weather, flight plan details, flight hours in the plane, fuel quality and quantity and the condition of the aircraft’s power and control systems after the crash and subsequent fire.

The report does not define an exact cause, but did rule out some causes for the crash.

“It seems to me that the NTSB found no obvious primary flight control or power plant malfunctions or failures on the aircraft,” Retired Air Force Pilot Roger Shapiro said.

Shapiro lives in Ballston Lake and is currently an Airline Transport pilot with a major airline.

“Post-recovery examination of both engines revealed no evidence of any pre-impact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. Examination of the left and right propellers revealed that both were rotating, consistent with engine power at the time of impact,” the NTSB report read.

The day after the crash, National Transportation Safety Board Air Safety Inspector Lynn Spencer spoke about the moments before the crash.

“The airplane seemed to have difficulty gaining altitude and then went nearly straight up 800 feet and a loop then turned left did at least one roll and then the final impact,” she said. “This flight path is typical of an extreme loss of control situation.”

“Air minimum control speed could have been a factor here,” Shapiro said.

If the aircraft is not moving fast enough then there is not enough airflow over the vertical stabilizer and rudder which can cause an aircraft to roll, he said.

The vertical stabilizer is the fin that sticks up from the back of the aircraft and the rutter is a moving gate that is attached to the back of the fin.

The report points out that the 1979 Piper PA 31-310 Navajo aircraft did barrel roll once and at least one, maybe two other 360 degree rolls before crashing.

According to data of the flight from Flightradar24.com, the aircraft’s speed dropped from 122 knots to 72 knots after the steep climb to 800 feet. At that point the plane went into the first barrel roll.

The report did confirm flight control continuity with the ailerons and elevator, but the rutter was not as clear due to the fire after the crash.

Shapiro said the final report will give a more definitive answer to what may have happened based on longer analysis of all the data.

He also said that the Piper Navajo has retractable landing gear and that could also impact speed.

“In the report there is no indication if the landing gear was up or down. If the gear was down, that could cause drag on the aircraft and a reduction in speed,” Shapiro said.

The report also confirmed that the plane was fully fueled and there was no contamination in the fuel at the fuel truck.

Gillis, who was flying the Piper back to Montreal after completing aerial surveillance flights in North Carolina since April 29, had 22 hours flying that particular aircraft and over 1,800 of flying overall.

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