Probable Cause Report States "Reason For Occurrence
Undetermined"
Undetermined. That's the Probable
Cause ruling from the National Transportation Safety Board
regarding a suspicious July 2004 controlled-flight-into-terrain
crash of a Piper Navajo in the eastern Adirondacks of upstate New
York.
As Aero-News reported, pilot
Milton Marshall and passenger Michael Keilty were killed when the
twin-engine aircraft flew into a heavily wooded area near
Ticonderoga, NY under clear skies. In the days following the July
10, 2004 accident, it came to light Keilty was under FBI
investigation for allegedly defrauding senior citizens
-- and he had attempted to take out a life insurance policy on
himself the day before the crash.
The Connecticut Post reports investigators also found the
magazine from a .380-caliber pistol at the impact site, with two
rounds missing. The actual gun was not recovered... and the report
states no weapon of that type could be linked to either Keilty or
Marshall.
Further casting suspicion on the circumstances of the crash is a
$4,000 loan Keilty had extended to Marshall. The pilot was
reportedly providing flight instruction to Keilty in exchange for
paying back the loan.
Investigators state the Navajo (file photo of type, below)
climbed 600 feet over rising terrain in the final 48 seconds of
radar coverage, with no apparent erratic deviations from course.
The aircraft struck a strand of old-growth trees jutting above
younger trees, according to the NTSB.
Marshall was a retired airline pilot with 32,000 flight hours,
according to the Board. Keilty had reportedly told Marshall and
others he was also a pilot, although the NTSB found that to not be
the case. In the days leading up to the accident, people close to
Keilty told NTSB investigators the man's demeanor had changed, and
his personal hygiene apparently deteriorated.
Marshall's daughter has maintained the crash was not an
accident, according to the Post. Kathy Leonzi said in a 2005
interview her father was "very safety conscious and
meticulous about his flying," adding he "would never crash into
trees."
The NTSB notes at Marshall's last medical exam in 2002, his
heart exhibited "severe calcific atherosclerotic coronary disease
with 90 percent narrowing of the left anterior descending coronary
artery and 75 percent narrowing of the right coronary artery." The
Board adds there was "no evidence of significant chronic myocardial
ischemic change, no coronary artery thromboses and no evidence of a
recent or old myocardial infarction," however, and family members
said Marshall appeared to be in excellent health.
A definitive cause of death could not be determined for either
Marshall or Keilty, due to the condition of their remains,
according to the NTSB.