The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Report details final moments of fatal plane crash
A plane that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in October 2018, killing all three people on board, likely was caused by “flight instrument anomalies” and the pilot’s decision to fly at high altitude without oxygen, according to a final investigation report.
Killed in the crash were Munidat “Raj” Persaud, 47, of Waterbury, the flight instructor and owner of the 1978 Piper Seneca plane; Ridgefield attorney Richard Terbrusch, 53; and Jennifer Landrum, a 45-year-old special education teacher from Georgia.
Terbrusch represented former reality television star Thomas Ravenel, who appeared on Bravo TV’s “Southern Charm.” Ravenel was accused of sexually assaulting his children’s former nanny.
Terbrusch and Landrum were dating and were headed to Charleston, S.C., when the crash occurred, Landrum’s family told People magazine.
Flying at 19,000 feet without oxygen masks caused “spatial disorientation” that affected the pilot’s ability to make decisions, the National Transportation Safety Board’s report said.
While Terbrusch is listed in the report as the pilot, it said “the decision-making on this flight, including the route and response to weather conditions, was most likely performed by the instructor (Persaud).”
No flight plan was filed for the Oct. 13, 2018 “instructional flight” from Danbury Municipal Airport to Charleston, S.C., the report said.
Persaud had been been operating the Oxford Flight Training school since 2004. Persaud held a flight instructor certificate with ratings for single- and multiengine, and instrument airplanes. He also held an airline transport pilot certificate with a rating for airplane single engine land, with commercial privileges for airplane multi-engine land and single engine sea.
His latest FAA third-class medical certificate was issued July 18, 2018, when he reported 4,000 total hours of flight experience.
Terbrusch held a private “pilot certificate” with a rating for a single-engine airplane. His most recent FAA third-class medical certificate was issued Aug. 27, 1986, when he reported no flight experience.
Probable causes and findings in the crash
The plane had a “known problem” with its directional gyro, which likely made the instructor unable to follow the air traffic controllers’ instructions, the report stated.
The instructor was piloting the plane using visual flight rules when the aircraft encountered heavy cloud cover over Long Island, the report stated.
The instructor demonstrated several lapses in judgment associated with conducting the flight, according to the report. Specifically, the instructor did not appear to recognize the significance of widespread ceilings along his route of flight and planned a cruise altitude that took him into instrument conditions, the report stated.
In an apparent effort to get above the clouds, the plane was flying at more than 16,000 feet, altitudes in which supplemental oxygen is required, “without it, performance and decisionmaking would have likely been degraded to some extent due to hypoxia,” the report stated.
Hypoxia is the lack of sufficient oxygen in the blood, tissues and/or cells to maintain normal physiological function.
“The flight’s erratic flight track away from the intended destination and the instructor’s inability to successfully maneuver the airplane in response to Air Traffic Control instructions that he acknowledged, are consistent with the effects of hypoxia,” the report stated.
“The instructor’s decision to conduct and continue a visual flight rules flight into instrument meteorological conditions with a known flight instrument anomaly, which resulted in spatial disorientation, causing a loss of airplane control and subsequent in-flight breakup. Contributing to the accident were the instructor’s lack of recent instrument flight experience and degraded airplane control and decision-making due to hypoxia,” the report said.
Timeline of the doomed flight
The flight on Oct. 13, 2018 began when Persaud flew the plane, based at Waterbury-Oxford Airport, to Danbury Municipal Airport to pick up Terbrusch and Landrum.
10:25 a.m.: The plane left the Danbury airport. There was no record of Persaud obtaining a weather briefing, the report said.
Text messages from Persaud to another student indicated the instructor planned to fly back alone after dropping off Terbrusch and Landrum, according to the report.
10:26 a.m.: The instructor requested to use visual flight rules following the air traffic controller and announced a planned climb to 8,500 feet, the report said.
10:37 a.m.: The instructor checked in with the controller at 9,200 feet, and radar data showed the airplane’s ground track still in a southeasterly direction toward Long Island.
10:42 a.m.: The instructor told the controller he was climbing another 1,000 feet, but the airplane continued to climb after passing through 12,500 feet, according to the report.
10:46 a.m.: The instructor checked in with the controller at 15,000 feet.
“Just be advised that where you are, right at your altitude, I’ve had numerous reports that it’s currently IMC [instrument meteorological conditions],” the controller responded, asking the instructor to confirm the airplane was in visual meteorological conditions (VMC).
The instructor responded that they were in VMC and were trying to maintain VMC and requested vectors due to an “unreliable” altitude indicator. The instructor then added the airplane was “in and out of IMC,” according to the report.
10:46 a.m.: The controller declared an emergency on behalf of the pilot and attempted to locate VFR conditions.
10:48 a.m.: The controller advised the instructor to start a left turn to a heading of 300 degrees because VFR conditions were below 10,000 feet in that direction, the report stated.
10:49 a.m.: The controller noted the airplane was in a slow right turn and checked with the instructor, who responded, “we are maintaining straight and level. We do have the sun above us and we’re using the sun as (unintelligible),” the report stated.
Radar data showed the airplane was climbing through 17,000 feet.
10:51 a.m.: The controller suggested the instructor commence a standard-rate turn either left or right for one minute to head toward a nearby airport, and the instructor asked the altitude of the cloud tops, according to the report. The controller responded the last report indicated the cloud tops were about 19,000 feet and the instructor responded that he was going to climb to 19,000 feet, the report stated.
10:52 a.m.: The instructor reported the airplane was above the clouds.
“The controller directed a turn to 300 degrees, however, the instructor did not acknowledge this vector, responded that he would not be able to descend into the clouds and that they were ‘VFR-on-top’; then the instructor again requested a vector to VFR conditions,” the report stated.
10:53 a.m.: The controller again suggested a turn to the west, and the instructor replied they were turning that way, according to the report.
10:55 a.m.: The instructor indicated they were starting to turn to the west. The airplane was at an altitude of about 19,400 feet.
The controller suggested that the instructor establish a standard-rate turn. However, radar data showed the airplane beginning “a sequence of turns in the shape of a figure eight,” the report stated.
10:56 a.m.: The airplane enters “an abrupt, descending turn,” according to the report.
The controller advised the instructor the airplane was in a sharp, turning descent and recommended the instructor try to level the wings using the turn-andslip indicator.
The instructor responded that “the airplane is in a descent,” the report stated.
The controller again advised the instructor to level the wings using the turnand-slip indicator; the instructor responded the airplane was descending, the report stated.
That was the last transmission from the airplane, the report stated.
10:58 a.m.: Radar contact with the plane was lost, the report stated.
The report said, “a witness near the accident site reported seeing the airplane ‘nosedive’ from out of the clouds and into the ocean after hearing the engine ‘throttle up severely and wind back down’ several times.”
A second witness stated the airplane sounded “as if it were a stunt plane doing spins (pitch changing),” then heard a “pop” and saw pieces of metal descending from the sky, according to the report.
The plane’s wreckage was found off Westhampton Beach on Long Island.
Persaud’s body was found in the water the day of the crash and the remains of Terbrusch and Landrum were found the next day, according to the report.
Autopsies determined that all died of “multiple blunt force injuries.”
Interviews with operators and maintenance facilities at the airports located in Oxford, Danbury, New Haven and Simsbury, revealed that none serviced or sold oxygen to Persaud or saw any oxygen systems or canisters in the accident airplane, according to the report.
Interviews with students and instructors at Oxford Flight Training revealed no evidence that Persaud used oxygen on the accident airplane, the report stated.
No oxygen tanks or oxygen masks were recovered in the wreckage, the report stated.