Student Pilot Was Practicing Emergency Procedures Before Deadly Crash, NTSB Says
A review of maintenance records revealed that the plane had been inspected a day before the accident, according to the NTSB
Flight instructor Maria Valentina Guillen, 22, was killed in a March 30 crash that left her student pilot seriously injured, according to the NTSB
The agency said the pair were practicing emergency procedures when they crashed at the Treasure Coast International Airport in Fort Pierce, Fla.
A witness told NTSB investigators that the plane appeared to "stall, rolled right, inverted, and impacted the ground"
A flight instructor and her student pilot were practicing emergency procedures when they crashed at a Florida airport last month, killing the instructor and seriously injuring the student, officials said.
The pilot was training for "his multi-engine rating" at the time of the crash on March 30 at the Treasure Coast International Airport in Fort Pierce, according to the National Transportation Safety Board's report released on April 19.
The report noted that part of the procedures included "shutting down and feathering the right engine." Then, when the Piper PA-44 was returned to the airport, the pilot "performed a simulated single-engine instrument 'low' approach to runway 10R."
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"To simulate the engine failure, thrust on the right engine was reduced to idle. The left engine was operated normally," per the NTSB report. "The private pilot said that when the airplane was at 1,000 ft [mean sea level], he extended the landing gear and brought the mixture and propeller levers for both engines full forward."
According to the NTSB, the pilot was headed toward landing the right engine of the plane while idling before executing a missed approach. When the pilot pressed on the throttles, there was no thrust in either engine.
"The instructor then took control of the airplane," the report added. "She declared an emergency and continued to turn the airplane back toward the airport to try to land on runway 14; however, they had 'no airspeed and no engine thrust.' The airplane stalled and impacted the ground."
St. Lucie County Fire District
Several units were dispatched to the Treasure Coast International Airport for a plane that went down on March 30, 2024.Related: Flight School Owner, Instructor and Student Pilot Killed in Massachusetts Small Plane Crash
A witness told NTSB investigators that the plane appeared to "stall, rolled right, inverted and impacted the ground." A review of maintenance records revealed that the plane had been inspected just a day before.
When deputies responded to the crash site, both victims were trapped inside the plane, CBS affiliate WPEC and USA Today reported.
The flight instructor, identified as 22-year-old Maria Valentina Guillen, was killed in the crash, according to reports. The 19-year-old student pilot had been seriously injured, per USA Today.
Both were training at Aviator College, according to the paper. Roxanne Palmer, the director of academic affairs at the college, told NBC affiliate WPTV that they were "still in the process of working with all of our oversight agencies on all action items related to both the incident and our ability to move forward in numerous spaces."
PEOPLE reached out to Aviator College for comment, but they did not immediately respond.
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