HOWELL — The National Transportation Safety Board has released a final investigation report on a 2021 plane crash near Boyne City that killed two men.
More: Two die in Monday plane crash near Boyne City
On Nov. 15, 2021, a Beech E-90 aircraft crashed in a wooded area west of Romanik Road in Melrose Township. Pilot Kenneth Daniel Yott, 61, of Pontiac, and his passenger Corbin Dennis Kennedy, 21, of Howell, died in the crash.
NTSB officials determined pilot error and weather conditions were likely causes.
“The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be: The pilot’s failure to maintain sufficient airspeed and his exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack while in icing conditions, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall and subsequent ground impact,” according to the report.
The aircraft departed from Oakland County International Airport around 11:50 a.m. enroute to Boyne City Municipal Airport. On approach of the airport, the aircraft slowed from 129 to 88 knots groundspeed over a period of one minute.
“While on final approach, the airplane gradually slowed to near its stall speed. About 600 (feet) beyond the last recorded data, the airplane impacted the ground in a nose-down attitude that was consistent with a stall,” according to the report
Officials say witnesses reported “very heavy sleet with low visibility conditions” near the crash site. Another witness who was about two miles from the site observed the aircraft flying below an overcast cloud layer without precipitation.
“Based on the witness accounts and weather data, the airplane likely entered a lake effect band of heavy sleet during the final portion of the flight,” according to the report.
The aircraft had been modified, including with five-blade propellers. Other pilots reported it would decelerate rapidly.Subscribe: Get all your breaking news and unlimited access to our local coverage
Poor airspeed control on final approach and the aerodynamic effects of the sleet likely contributed to the crash.
Officials didn’t discover any mechanical failures.
Yott “usually flew a larger corporate jet and had not flown the accident airplane for eight months,” according to the report. “The pilot flew about 700 hours in Beech E-90 airplanes. About three years prior to the accident, the pilot started managing the accident airplane, and he last flew the airplane during recurrent flight training on March 22, 2021.”
Kennedy “was a student pilot interested in becoming a professional pilot and was along for the ride,” according to the report.
