The late Major League Baseball pitcher Roy Halladay appears to be getting at least some of the blame for the November 7th plane crash that resulted in his death.
A preliminary report released Monday from the National Transportation Safety Board says Halladay's Icon A-5 light aircraft got as low as 10 feet above the Gulf of Mexico.
The NTSB cites witness statements and flight recorder data indicating that the aircraft dived several times and flew just 11 feet over Green Key Beach and 75 feet over waterfront houses.
Forty-year-old Halladay had taken off from a lake near his Tampa-area home about 17 minutes before the crash, taking his ICON A5:
- To 1,900 feet before dropping to 600 feet as he neared the coastline
- He then dropped to 36 feet when he reached the water
- While flying at about 105 mph, Halladay skimmed the water at 11 feet, flying in a circle
- He then climbed to 100 feet
- A witness says the plane then climbed to between 300 and 500 feet
- It allegedly turned and went into a 45-degree dive
- It slammed into the water and flipped
* All of the above according to the plane's data, and a witness, as reported by ESPN.
Halladay's body was found with the plane. The plane had been equipped with a parachute, but it was not deployed.
A full report on the crash could take a year or longer.