NTSB releases final report in Las Cruces plane crash that killed Tyler Francis last year

The National Transportation Safety Board has released the final report and probable cause in the Nov. 24, 2014 plane crash that killed Tyler Francis in Las Cruces.

“The pilot’s failure to maintain airplane control, which resulted in a stall/spin,” the NTSB wrote in the report released this month. “Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s failure to obtain adequate familiarization in the accident airplane type before the accident.”

Francis was the 29-year-old owner of Francis Aviation who was flying an “RV-3” aircraft that he had purchased two days before the crash. A friend of Francis told a federal inspector that Francis had no prior experience with that kind of aircraft before buying it.

The report states Francis had flown the plane about four hours from the time he bought it to when he crashed.

“Several witnesses reported that they observed the airplane make a steep climb shortly after takeoff and that the airplane then made two 90-degreeleft bank turns toenter the downwind leg of the traffic pattern. During the turns, the airplane’s wings were rocking back and forth, the airplane was in a nose-high attitude and not climbing, and the flight control surfaces were moving,” the report states. “The airplane then began another left turn,theleft wing dropped, and the airplane spun toward the ground. One witness reported that the engine sounded normal throughout the flight.”

The report states that post-accident toxicology tests detected a low level of marijuana in the Francis’ blood, liver,and lung, but that “it is unlikely that it impaired his performance on the day of the accident.”

Francis’ father is local bank executive Rick Francis and his grandfather is former El Paso Mayor Larry Francis. He is survived by his wife, who at the time of the accident was pregnant with their first child.