ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The pilot of a single-engine plane that crashed into Clear Lake on Nov. 20 was straining to control the craft before it plunged into the water, a recently released report said.
Robert Stimmel, 61, and Maria Stimmel, 45, were killed in the crash.
According to a preliminary accident report from the National Transportation Safety Board, Robert Stimmel took off from Orlando Executive Airport at 11:27 a.m. and was headed for Gainesville Municipal Airport in Texas.
Minutes after taking off, air traffic controllers recorded Stimmel’s plane flying 500 feet higher than it was supposed to be.
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The pilot told controllers that he could not disengage the plane’s autopilot system and was not in control of the plane, the report said.
He was pulling on the controls with “full force” but was not able to change the plane’s course. Robert Stimmel radioed air traffic controllers to ask if anyone knew how to manually turn off the autopilot, and he was instructed to pull the system’s circuit breaker.
The source of the instruction did not come from controllers and the “unknown voice” has not been identified, the report said.
“The controller asked the pilot if he was able to descend, to which he replied he was pushing as hard as he could on the control yoke,” the report said.
The same unidentified person asked Robert Stimmel if he had pulled the breaker and the pilot said he had, but the airplane was rising and falling uncontrollably.
Moments later, witnesses on the ground reported that the Stimmels’ plane banked and nosedived into the lake.
A final accident report has not been completed by the NTSB.
WFTV
