Seville, FL – A downdraft is being blamed for a small plane crash in northwest Volusia County earlier this month that killed a passenger and injured 2 other men, including the pilot.
The National Transportation Safety Board released its preliminary findings on Tuesday in the October 10th accident of a rented Cessna 172S in a wooded area near Lake Crescent in Seville.
27-year-old Jeffrey Luong of Port Orange – a graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University – died in the crash.
The pilot – 26-year-old Mark M. Repanshek of Port Orange – had to be airlifted as a trauma alert to Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach. So did another passenger on board, identified as 24-year-old Jarrett Bruckner of Pennsylvania.
Repanshek and Bruckner are also ERAU graduates, according to a statement released by the school.
According to the NTSB report, the rented Cessna – a plane owned by Mike Bravo LLC – was loaded with cargo and left Daytona Beach International Airport at 1:14pm that Saturday with no flight plan filed.
Per the report, the Cessna was being used to do a cargo drop south of Lake Crescent at a campsite managed by the St. Johns River Water Management District.
The report shows the plane was around 300 to 600 feet above ground and about to complete its final drop when a downdraft caused the Cessna to lose altitude and crash less than a mile from the 700 block of Bunnell Road.
Volusia County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Andrew Gant says the 911 call came in around 1:50pm and Air One – the department’s helicopter – went to the scene to airlift the injured men.
NTSB recovered the plane from the crash scene and continue to examine it as they work on the final report.
911 audio from the crash isn’t being released by the FAA at this time, according to Gant.
Copyright 2015 Southern Stone Communications.