NTSB report offers new details on fatal plane crash in Siler City, NC
Witnesses who saw a training plane leave from Siler City Municipal Airport June 14 offered new details about the fatal flight before it crashed, according to a federal report released Wednesday.
The aircraft, which left Raleigh Executive Jetport in Sanford about 12:30 p.m., crashed about 12:45 p.m. due to engine issues, according to a Federal Aviation Administration report earlier this month.
A new National Transportation Safety Board report describes what happened in the flight’s final moments before instructor McMillan Abernathy, of Beech Mountain, and student Justin Strauss, of Raleigh, were killed.
Executive Flight Training and Services, a flight school in Lee County, owned the aircraft, a 1969 Piper Cherokee.
In the NTSB report, another flight instructor and student were flying upwind in a traffic pattern when Abernathy and Strauss entered the downwind leg of their pattern. The unnamed instructor in the second plane said he adjusted his route for “spacing,” then heard someone in Abernathy’s plane ask over the radio: “Can you extend? We’re having an issue.”
The student on the second plane recalled hearing, “We are having issues, can we land?” according to the report.
Afterward, the two heard no more discernible transmissions from Abernathy and Strauss’ plane, only “hot mic” and “background” noises. The other flight instructor saw the accident plane’s altitude continuously decrease. After turning his plane for a more clear view, he and his student saw smoke rising from the wooded area around the accident site, the NTSB reported.
A witness who was baling hay near the runway said he saw Abernathy’s plane take off. It “looked different,” like it was “flying sideways,” according to the NTSB report.
Abernathy, who attended Lenoir-Rhyne University, had celebrated his 25th birthday less than a week before. He received his FAA medical certificate — a document saying he was physically fit to fly — in May 2022. His father estimated he had about 850 to 900 hours of flying experience, according to the report.
Strauss was studying air transportation at Ohio State University. He received his certificate in December 2023, and had about 25 hours of flight experience.
A final report will follow the NTSB’s investigation, which can take one to two years.
