The National Transportation Safety Board says a December 2020 fatal plane crash in Burleson was caused by engine seizure and a poor decision by the pilot.
On December 19, 2020, 85-year old Earl Kirkpatrick of Burleson was taking his newly built plane up for his initial flight. He had told the tower he intended to fly around the Burleson airport.
But minutes after he took off, reports say Kirkpatrick said there were major problems with the engine. By then he had strayed away and was more than a mile from the airport.
Reports say the plane hit power lines and went down in a business parking lot.
The NTSB found metal shavings in the oil and ruled the engine had completedly seized. The official report also blamed Kirkpatrick for not staying near the airport on the plane's maiden flight.
The Medical Examiner ruled the cause of Kirkpatrick's death was actually electrocution from those power lines, not the impact of the crash.
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