NTSB: Dewees Victims Were Performing ‘Loops’ Just Before Fatal Crash

The man and woman killed in a on July 20 entered into two loops over the water when their experimental aircraft suffered a fatal malfunction, according to a National Transportation Safety Board report released late Wednesday.

“Witnesses to the accident stated … that they observed the flying boat perform an aero-loop and started to perform another loop,” wrote investigator Jose Obregon. “When the flying boat was at the top of the loop, inverted, at an estimated altitude of 1,000 feet above the water, the wing folded.”

Read more about the Dewees Island crash.

Both , the aircraft’s operator, and died in the crash. They were friends who worked together aboard Smith’s motoryacht, the Osprey.

The Federal Aviation Administration sent inspectors to the crash site last month. They forward their investigation notes to the NTSB for and official findings report. This initial incident report will be followed by a more detailed report, but that will take up a year to compile, Obregon said.

The NTSB describes Smith’s aircraft as “an unregistered, experimental Polaris Polar Star flying boat.” And they confirm, as the FAA has said previously, that the aircraft was not properly register, and report that Smith didn’t have a pilot’s license.

“The responding (FAA) inspector stated that the pilot did not hold a FAA pilot license,” the NTSB report states. “The pilot required, at minimal, a sport pilot license to operate the flying boat. The flying boat's specification required it to have a registration number issued by the FAA when operated.”

Witnesses said after the wing folded on the aircraft, the boat fell from the sky into shallow water. Boaters rushed to Smith’s and Donohue’s aid, but it was too late.

“Sea vessels approached the wreckage to aid the two on board; one was trapped in the wreckage and the other was located floating in the water,” the report states.

Rescue workers said previously both victims were already dead when help arrived.