Halladay’s plane diving, soaring before fatal crash

FORTLAUDERDALE, FLA. » Retired star pitcher RoyHalladay sped his small sports plane low over the Gulf ofMexico minutes before his fatal crash two weeks ago, climbing sharply in the final seconds before diving into the water, federal investigators said in a preliminary report released Monday.

National Transportation Safety Board investigator Noreen Price placed no blame for the Nov. 7 accident near Tampa, simply laying out the facts as gleaned from the plane’s data recorder and eyewitnesses. A final report with conclusions could take one to two years.

Price says Halladay, 40, had taken off from a lake near his Tampa-area home about 17 min-

utes before the crash, taking his ICON A5 to 1,900 feet (580 meters) before dropping to 600 feet (180 meters) as he neared the coastline. He then dropped to 36 feet (11 meters) when he reached the water. While flying at about 105mph (170 kph), Halladay skimmed the water at 11 feet (3.3 meters), flying in a circle before climbing to 100 feet (30meters), the plane’s data showed.

A witness told investigators the plane climbed to between 300 and 500 feet (95 to 150 meters) when it turned and went into a 45-degree dive. It slammed into the water and flipped.

Halladay’s body was found with the plane, which was severely damaged. The plane itself was equipped with a parachute, but it was not deployed.

The former Toronto Blue Jays and Phillies ace had received the plane from ICON on Oct. 10, and was one of the first to receive the model. In one ofmany enthusiastic tweets about the plane, Halladay said it felt “like flying a fighter jet.” He had about 700 hours of f light time after getting his license in 2013, the report says. He had 51 hours in ICON A5s, including 14 in the plane that crashed.

Rolled out in 2014, the A5 is an amphibious aircraft meant to be treated like an ATV, a piece of weekend recreational gear with folding wings that can easily be towed on a trailer to a lake where it can take off from the water.

The man who led the plane’s design, 55-yearold John Murray Karkow, died while f lying an A5 over California’s Lake Berryessa on May 8, a crash the NTSB attributed to pilot error.

Another A5 crashed in April, making a hard landing in the water off Key Largo, Florida, injuring the pilot and his passenger. The pilot told investigators the plane descended faster than he expected.

Halladay, an eight-time All-Star, was with the Phillies when he pitched a perfect game and a playoff nohitter over the Cincinnati Reds in 2010. He played for the Blue Jays from 1998 to 2009 and for the Phillies from 2009-13, going 203105 with a 3.38 ERA.