NTSB Official Says Investigation into Crash will Take Months

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (AP) — A National Transportation Safety Board investigator says a private plane returning from the NCAA basketball tournament that was trying to land at a central Illinois airport turned away from the runway before crashing.

Investigator Todd Fox said Tuesday it wasn’t clear why the aircraft made that maneuver. He adds the NTSB investigation into the crash may take a year to 18 months.

The Cessna 414 twin-engine aircraft crashed early Tuesday, killing all seven people on board, including Illinois State University’s associate head basketball coach and a deputy athletics director.

Fox says the pilot, 51-year-old Thomas Hileman, had flown about 12,000 hours and held an air transport pilot’s license. An ATP license allows a pilot to fly commercial airliners.

The McLean County coroner says all the crash victims were dead at the scene.

ReCENT POSTS

Loading...