Pilot In Hilltown Crash Was Prepping For Commercial Flight Exam: Reports

HILLTOWN, PA — The National Transportation Safety Board has released preliminary findings in the Hilltown plane crash that killed two, according to reports.

6abc reported the pilot and owner of the airplane, identified as 55-year-old Brian Filippini of Philadelphia, was training for the commercial pilot practical exam when his Beechcraft BE35 crashed in the Bucks County neighborhood on Feb. 24.

Passenger Alfred George Piranian, 74, of Chalfont, was Filippini’s flight instructor, Lehigh Valley Live said. The NTSB report found that Filippini and Piranian took off on the instructional flight just before 4:30 p.m. from Doylestown Airport.

The preliminary report found the pilot had been performing maneuvers 2,000 feet in the air, according to multiple reports. The plane went into a left spin just before 5 p.m., then crashed at Victoria and Brittany lanes.

The cockpit and cabin were "mostly consumed by fire" and the men died on impact, Lehigh Valley Live reported.

Investigators with the Federal Aviation Administration said the plane was headed to Gunden Airstrip, a Bucks County plot of grass; the airstrip's owner told FOX 29 that only a handful of planes have used the private strip in his 20 years of ownership, and he wasn't aware of the plane's plan to land.

Doorbell camera video showed the aircraft exploding after impact (visible here from WGAL); the video has now become a piece of evidence in the investigation.

Hilltown Township Police Officer Christopher Englehart said Filippini was a hero for avoiding nearby homes in the crash.

The cause of the crash is still currently unknown. The final report from the Federal Aviation Administration and NTSB could take months or years.

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