7 June 2007
A film cameraman who died in a crash off the Florida coast had tied himself into the aircraft, the US NTSB has revealed.
In its report into the accident, the Board reported that the engine on the Cessna U206B had failed while the aircraft was off the Dry Tortugas islands. The engine had sputtered, then regained full power, but two minutes later the engine had lost power completely. “Postaccident inspection of the airplane, recovered 17 days later from ocean waters, disclosed no evidence of any preimpact mechanical malfunction.”
The pilot set up a glide approach for a ditching, which was successful. However, although the other passengers and pilot managed to escape the ditched aircraft, the strapped-in cameraman didn’t. Attempts were made to free him, but in vain.
The NTSB could not determine the reason for the engine failure.
The cameraman had been named as Neal L Fredericks, a 35-year-old veteran of the industry, who was probably best known for his work on the <i>Blair Witch Project</i>.
Read the full report <a href=’http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/GenPDF.asp?id=MIA04FA119&rpt=fa’ target=’_blank’>here</a>.
