NTSB: Pilot Told Investigators He Was Climbing When He Was Really In A Dive

Spatial disorientation, killer of so many pilots over the past century, may have claimed five more victims in San Antonio (TX) Sunday evening, according to an investigator with the NTSB.

"We know the aircraft was within a cloud when whatever was going on up there was happening," investigator Alex Lemishko told local reporters.

The Piper Navajo was headed for San Antonio International when the pilot declared a missed approach, Lemishko said. In his last communication with the tower, pilot Jerry Oyler said he was at 2,500 feet MSL and climbing. In fact, said Lemishko, Oyler's Piper Navajo was at 1,300 feet and descending -- rapidly.

Aside from Oyler, those killed in the accident were identified as two doctors and their sons, who were on their way back from a pheasant hunt in Kansas. They had departed Dodge City earlier in the day. The other victims were identified as:

• Stewart Johnson, general surgeon
• Johnson's son, Hugh
• David McMurray, radiologist
• McMurray's son, Daniel

As ANN reported on Monday, the Navajo clipped a senior citizens' apartment building before impacting the ground with such force that part of the wreckage was immediately buried as deep as six feet below the Earth's surface.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov