The pilot of a small plane that crashed and killed everyone on board asked air traffic controllers to cancel his plan to land at a rural airport in north-central Florida so he could fly 200 miles further south along the Gulf coast. He then crashed while trying to land at the airport he had originally chosen.
A small Lancair 360 with two seats crashed on Sunday afternoon near the Cross City airport in Dixie County, which is about 50 miles west of Gainesville.
The National Transportation Safety Board was looking into the crash. The flight was coming back from southern Alabama’s Atmore Municipal Airport. The NTSB said the flight was for personal reasons.
Greg Mahler, 75, of Venice, Florida, which is south of Sarasota, was one of the two people on board. He was a flying instructor with a lot of experience.
At first, it wasn’t clear if he was at the controls that day. The authorities refused to say who the other person on board was.
Mahler died Tuesday at a hospital in Gainesville from his wounds, his wife Marianne wrote on Facebook.
Taylor Cole, who works at Cross City’s airport, told the Mainstreet Daily News this week that people who saw the crash said they heard the plane’s engine stalling.
Cole told the newspaper that the pilot decided to go to the far side of the runway, turn down, and the plane may have either stopped moving or lost all power. At the end of the runway, the plane went down.
Sunday, the plane had a flight plan from Atmore to land at Cross City. But, radio traffic records from that afternoon show that the unidentified pilot asked air traffic controllers in Tallahassee if he could change the plan to fly south along the coast to Venice.
“Our flight plan will be canceled when we get about 20 or 30 miles north of Cross City,” the pilot said. “Then we’ll go… down the shore.” “Venice will be our final stop.”
The pilot was told by the director to let his coworkers in Jacksonville know about the change in plans.
He replied, “Roger, that’s fine, thanks.”
Radar for weather showed that there was no really bad weather in the plane’s path.
After two minutes, the plane’s beacon stopped sending information to the air traffic controller. This device tells the controller where the plane is and how high it is flying.
Two times, a director in Tallahassee asked for its approach, which means “descent to landing.” Mahler’s plane didn’t answer. Someone in charge told the plane to go left. There’s more quiet.
After calling the plane a few more times, the air traffic controller in Tallahassee asked two other close planes to report if they saw Mahler’s plane or anything else that didn’t seem right.
The plane sent its last message about 17 minutes ago, and the air traffic controller asked the pilot twice to get in touch with air traffic controllers in Jacksonville.
As reported by the FAA, the plane went down while attempting to land at Cross City’s runway.
Greg Mahler had flown before; he had both a commercial and a flight teacher license. An experienced pilot who had known Greg Mahler for many years said that he was a great friend and a very good pilot.
He said, “He would help anyone.” “I don’t know what to say about him; it’s been terrible here.”
Angel Flight is a non-profit organization that sets up free air travel for medical emergencies and time-sensitive non-emergencies linked to medical conditions. Mahler volunteered as a pilot for Angel Flight.