The National Transportation Safety Board says a combination of slow airspeed and a strong gust of wind were behind a plane crash at Lake Lewisville in July.
A video shows the small plane coming in for a landing at the Lakeview Airport in Lake Dallas on July 28. It seems to float above the runway before briefly touching down. That's when a 23-mile-per-hour gust of wind picked up a wing, according to a final report by the NTSB.
Pilot Jordan Sanders, Shady Shores, was attempting to land after a cross-country flight from the Denver area. He tells NTSB investigators that as he was landing "a large gust of wind from the west picked the right wing up, removing my tire and my front wheel from the ground and turning the aircraft toward a tree line." according to the report.
Sanders said he applied full power and tried to clear the tree line. He succeded, but the plane stalled and crashed into the lake. Sanders was able to unbuckle himself and swim to shore.
The NTSB says the plane had to be fished out of the lake and sustained heavy damage.
The regulator says the cause of the crash was, "the pilot’s failure to maintain sufficient airspeed during a go-around, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall and impact with the water. Contributing to the accident were crosswind gusts."
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