A federal investigation has determined that a small aircraft transporting pickleball players to a Texas competition experienced instrument icing issues before disintegrating during flight last month, according to a preliminary report made public Friday.
The Cessna 421C departed from Amarillo on the evening of April 30 at 9:10 p.m. and went down approximately two hours later near Wimberley, located roughly 40 miles southwest of Austin. The crash claimed the lives of pilot Justin Appling along with passengers Hayden Dillard, Brooke Skypala, Stacy Hedrick and Seren Wilson.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board’s findings, the pilot communicated difficulties with the aircraft’s anti-icing equipment designed to protect flight instruments during the journey.
The pilot subsequently informed controllers that his airspeed indicator had become covered with ice and that he was relying on secondary instruments. Air traffic control authorized a descent to 4,000 feet, with the pilot expressing his desire to reach warmer air at a lower elevation to “warm back up.”
The investigation revealed that during the final quarter-hour before impact, the aircraft operated at elevations where atmospheric conditions remained near the freezing point.
Controllers received the pilot’s final radio communication at 10:59 p.m. Following this contact, the aircraft executed multiple descending maneuvers in both directions before striking the ground.
Recovery teams discovered aircraft fragments scattered across a 1.25-mile area, a pattern investigators say indicates the plane suffered an “inflight breakup.”
Weather conditions in the region included mostly overcast skies prior to the accident, with thunderstorm activity occurring two hours after the crash, according to the National Weather Service.
A second aircraft traveling with the same group successfully completed its journey to New Braunfels.
