AUGUSTA, Maine—A Colorado pilot who died in a Feb. 1 plane crash appeared to be confused before her plane went down in West Gardiner, according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board.
The NTSB report released Tuesday said the pilot told an air traffic controller she was having problems with an instrument panel indicator and didn’t know where she was turning shortly before the crash.
The report did not identify the victims by name, but the Maine medical examiner’s office has identified them as 45-year-old Jeanette Symons, a businesswoman from Steamboat Springs, Colo., and her 10-year-old son, Balan Symons.
Symons took off in her six-seat private jet at about 5:45 p.m. At the time, light snow was turning into freezing rain, and witnesses told investigators they saw ice forming on their vehicles, the report said.
Before takeoff, Symons’ handling of the plane suggested she may have been confused about her surroundings, the report said. She taxied off the asphalt and through a ditch. She then tried to depart down the wrong runway and failed to turn on runway and taxi lights.
At an altitude of 3,000 feet, Symons radioed an air traffic controller in Portland to say one of her aircraft instruments was experiencing problems and she didn’t know which way to turn.
Moments later, four minutes after takeoff, the jet crashed in a wooded area of West Gardiner.
The final NTSB report will not be completed for six months to a year, said NTSB investigator Jose Obregon.
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Information from: Kennebec Journal,
