A preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board found that the Cessna 421C airplane that crashed in the Stoneledge neighborhood near Wimberley on April 30 occurred because the instrument used to measure the plane’s airspeed, the pitot tube, malfunctioned.
Air traffic control recordings showed that the airplane departed River Falls Airport in Amarillo about 9:10 p.m., and received clearance to its destination, the New Braunfels National Airport.
While enroute, the pilot reported that his pitot tube was inoperative and requested an altitude check which an air traffic controller provided.
During his descent to the airport, the pilot radioed air traffic control at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport at 10:58 p.m., and informed them that he was in a descent to 8,000 ft. The Austin controller cleared the pilot down to 4,000 ft.
According to the report, the pilot acknowledged the descent clearance and informed the controller that his pitot tube was iced up and that he was using backup gauges. He wanted to get to a lower altitude to “warm back up.”
Shortly after the pilot’s last radio transmission at 10:59 p.m., ADS-B, the tracking technology that continuously broadcasts an aircraft's exact GPS location, altitude and velocity showed the airplane turned left, made a near 180° right turn, then maneuvered to the south followed by a descending right turn. The plane went down just past 11:02 p.m.
A homeowner heard the airplane crash, saw the wreckage on fire, and notified first responders.
The Cessna was piloted by Justin Appling who perished along with his four passengers. They were Hayden Dillard, Seren Wilson, Brooke Skypala and Stacy Hedrick.
Preliminary weather information from the NTSB report found that “during the last 15 minutes of its flight, the plane flew just above the freezing [horizon] with temperatures between 21.2 °F. to 28.4°F. Models showed the potential for icing with moderate accumulation rates and the potential for supercooled large droplets.”
