Told ATC Plane Was Upside-Down

The NTSB is fairly certain it knows what caused a Cessna 150 to crash into a field near Penbrook, VA two weeks ago... and sadly, it is an all-too-common tale.

In its Preliminary Report on the September 5 accident, the board reports instrument conditions prevailed when the VFR-rated pilot of the C150 asked the controller for a radar vector, saying "we're kinda lost in some fog here."

The controller told the pilot -- who had been flying under VFR flight following -- to remain calm, turn to the right, and to not try to climb or descend. The pilot panicked, however... telling the controller he wasn't sure of his heading, and thought the plane may even be upside-down.

The last transmission from the plane says it all -- "we can't see, we can't see, we can't see." No further transmissions were received from the pilot, and radar contact was lost shortly thereafter.

"I seen it falling out of the sky and the wings was floating," said one witness to the accident.

"The wings were missing and it was on the way down to the ground, straight down, engine running," said another.

Pilot Randy Nash and his passenger died in the crash. He was not instrument-rated... nor had he received a weather briefing before taking off.

One pilot told Roanoke's WSLS-10 conditions were cloudy, with rain and fog the day of the accident... and even many IFR pilots would have elected not to fly that day.

"It's risk you didn't need to take," added aviation lawyer Matt Broughton.

FMI: Read The NTSB Preliminary Report