New Report: Roy Halladay’s Plane Took Steep Turns, Flew Low

NEW PORT RICHEY, FL - Investigators for the National Transportation Safety Board say retired Major League Baseball pitcher Roy Halladay performed steep turns and flew 10 feet above the water prior to crashing his plane into the Gulf of Mexico. According to a preliminary NTSB report, the plane's parachute failed to deploy before the Icon A5 Series aircraft plunged into the ocean. The report does not indicate what caused the crash.

The body of the two-time Cy Young Award winner was found in the wreckage.

A witness to the accident told NTSB he saw the airplane perform a climb to between 300 and 500 feet on a southerly heading before turning and descending on an easterly heading at about a 45 degree nose-down altitude. He then saw the airplane impact the water.

Video footage taken of the airplane before the accident shows it in a descending left 45-degree banked turn and then maneuvering about 10 feet above the water, the report said.

The airplane came to rest in 4.5 feet of saltwater, with the front fuselage and cockpit "highly fragmented." The report said the aircraft was “maneuvering at a low level near New Port Richey.” Two inflated life vests and numerous fragments were recovered within a 300 feet radius from the aircraft, the report said. The CAP ballistic parachute system was not deployed and the handle pin was installed, the report said.

Halladay's plane took off from a private lakeside home north of Lake Keystone in Odessa Nov. 7. The plane “climbed to a GPS altitude of 1,909 feet and tracked north for 4 miles before turning to the west toward the coastline." It then flew for 10 miles and crossed over U.S. 19 at about 600 feet, then descended to 36 feet over the water before turning south.

The airplane then flew on a southerly track past Green Key Beach at 11 feet altitude and 92 knots before performing a right 360 degree turn while climbing to about 100 feet. It continued on a southerly track, flying as close as 75 feet to the Gulf Harbor South Beach houses.

The airplane was a light sport aircraft that Halladay accepted delivery on Oct. 10, 2017. The pilot's logbook indicated he had logged a total of 703.9 flight hours, of which 51.8 hours were in an Icon A5 airplane and 14.5 hours were in the accident airplane, the report said.

The NTSB says the full investigation could take two years.

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