Over two years after a fatal plane crash in Delaware County, a final report has concluded the incident was most likely due to the pilot’s spatial disorientation while flying in poor weather conditions.
The single-engine, six-seat Piper Malibu crashed shortly before 2 p.m. on June 30, 2024, near Trout Creek, south of Sidney. The fatal descent happened just 12 minutes after taking off from the Albert S. Nader Regional Airport in Oneonta, on its way to West Virginia International Yeager Airport in Charleston, West Virginia.
Following the crash, New York State police identified the victims of the crash as pilot Roger Beggs, 76, his daughter Laura VanEpps, and her husband, Ryan VanEpps, both 42, and their children James R. VanEpps, 12, and Harrison VanEpps, 10.
Almost two years after a preliminary report was released by the National Transportation Safety Board, the final investigation report was published, citing the pilot’s loss of visual reference in the air as the “defining event” of the crash.
What happened on June 30, 2024
At 1:43 p.m., the plane manned by Beggs took off from the Oneonta airport for a short trip to West Virginia. Prior to departure, Beggs filed an IFR flight plan — a document sent to air traffic control which details the route and timing.
Within minutes of taking flight, Beggs received flight clearance to 12,000 feet and a warning of moderate to heavy precipitation along the flight route. He also received warnings of moderate turbulence and a convective SIGMET — an advisory meant to warn pilots of severe convective activity like thunderstorms, according to the National Weather Service.
At 1:52 p.m., the plane began to deviate from its course. An air traffic controller asked, “It looks like you’re deviating left for weather, and what fix do you want to go, uh, downstream to,” according to the NTSB report.
Beggs did not immediately respond to the question, and the plane began a right descending turn before hitting its lowest altitude thus far at 8,700 feet, before climbing back up to 9,600.
The air traffic controller asked twice more before Beggs responded at 1:54, saying “yeah I lost.” During this transmission, an unknown person was heard stating, “oh my god.” In his last intelligible transmission, Beggs said again — “yeah, Boston I, I, lost.”
The airplane then continued on east-southeast with altitude deviations from 9,950 feet to 8,700 feet. The plane then climbed again from 8,800 feet to 9,025 feet before it began a “steep right turn” that “tightened during the descent,” according to the report.
A witness located east of the final portion of the flight track reported seeing the airplane going through dark clouds, then pitching up into the clouds before it “dove into a corkscrew downward,” according to the report. Another witness, who was also east of the final portion, reported seeing the airplane flying into dark clouds before it pitched up and “did a backwards flip and spun.”
The last flight track data point showed the airplane at an altitude of 6,500 feet. The plane, according to the report, appeared to have broken apart during flight and the main wreckage was located about half a mile north of this final data point.
What caused the fatal crash
While the NTSB’s conclusions are not definite, evidence is collected following the crash and used to determine the probable cause of the accident. In this instance, NTSB has determined that Beggs most likely lost control after flying into the clouds and losing sight of the ground and the horizon.
NTSB has determined that the plane likely entered the clouds about three and a half minutes prior to the crash.
While in the clouds, according to NTSB, Beggs entered “instrument meteorological conditions,” meaning he could no longer rely on his sight and visual cues and had to instead fly only by using instruments in the cockpit.
Because of this, NTSB has concluded that Beggs began experiencing spatial disorientation and was unable to control the plane. The “resulting ground track, rapid turning descent and in-flight breakup” were consistent with a loss of control, according to the report.
During the investigation, NTSB spoke with a retired pilot who had flown with Beggs in September 2023. He said Beggs was “prudent” in checking weather conditions, and he had performed a thorough preflight inspection. The pilot also observed that Beggs used autopilot for “nearly the entire flight. NTSB determined that Beggs was most likely “hand-flying” the airplane without autopilot on June 30.
While Beggs held a private pilot certificate with ratings for airplane single-engine land and instrument airplane, NTSB was unable to find logbooks to examine his recent experience operating in actual instrument meteorological conditions.
When examining the wreckage, crash investigators found that there was no obvious flightpath or tree damage, which is consistent with a near-vertical impact. A post-accident examination of the plane’s engine and airplane also showed no evidence of “any malfunction or failure” that would have “precluded normal operation of the airplane,” according to the report.
Through the NTSB investigation, they were unable to determine whether Beggs had thoroughly reviewed the weather briefing provided prior to the flight.
This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: Final report in 2024 Delaware County plane crash finds pilot lost control
Reporting by Jillian McCarthy, Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin / Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jillian McCarthy, Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin | USA TODAY Network
