A pilot practicing for a test was performing maneuvers at 2,000 feet when his plane went into a spin and crashed on a residential street in Bucks County last month, according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board.
The report does not conclude what caused the Feb. 24 crash that killed 55-year-old Brian Filippini of Philadelphia, owner and operator of the 1965 Beechcraft 35-C33, and his passenger, 74-year-old flight instructor Alfred George Piranian of Chalfont. Final crash reports can take up to two years.
The NTSB said Filippini, under Piranian’s instruction, made the flight in preparation for the commercial pilot practical examination, having completed the written exam.
The plane took off from Doylestown Airport at 4:26 p.m. bound for Gunden Airport near Sellersville. It went into a left spin and crashed shortly before 5 p.m. at Brittany and Victoria lanes in Hilltown Township.
Upon impact, a propeller blade detached from the craft and crashed into a house. Fire consumed most of the plane wreckage, the report says. No one on the ground was injured, but a pickup truck was damaged by debris and fire.
A copy of doorbell video footage of the crash was sent to the NTSB Vehicle Recorders Laboratory in Washington.
Morning Call reporter Daniel Patrick Sheehan can be reached at 610-820-6598 or [email protected]
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