The National Transportation Safety Board has issued a preliminary report on the Genesee County plane crash that killed Buffalo attorney Stephen Barnes and his niece, Elizabeth Barnes.
The report said Barnes was piloting the plane that late morning of Oct. 2. As the plane was approaching Buffalo during a flight from New Hampshire, Barnes had radioed to air controllers that "everything's fine."
He was about 15 miles east of Buffalo, at an altitude of 28,000', but in the ensuing 3 minutes, after being told to descend to 8,000', the NTSB said the plane descended at a rapid rate of speed, as fast as 13,800' per minute.
Barnes never responded to the instruction, nor subsequent orders to slow down. Radar contact was lost after the plane made a 360-degree right turn. Controllers tried repeatedly to contact Barnes, with no reply.
When the plane crashed, it disintegrated and burrowed itself from 10-15' underground in a swampy and wooded area in the town of Pembroke. Much of the wreckage has since been transported to Tennessee for further NTSB investigation. A full report might not be completed for another year or two.
