The chilling final sound heard on a radio before a pilot and his daughter died in a plane crash has emerged. Alexander Wurm, 53, and his daughter, Serena Wurm, 22, were on their way to Jamaica to deliver aid to victims of Hurricane Melissa when the aircraft smashed into a lake in Coral Springs, Florida, on November 10.
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) revealed what air traffic controllers heard as the plane went down in an initial report into the tragedy. The Board found that heavy breathing and grunting were heard coming from the aircraft.
It wasn’t confirmed what was making the sounds and the cause of the crash won’t be known until the publication of an investigation’s findings expected in the next year.
The Beechcraft King Air jet the missionary was flying narrowly missed homes before crashing into the lake in the residential area of the Fort Lauderdale suburb.
The NTSB report has raised questions about whether the plane might have been overloaded, but investigators haven’t determined yet if that was the case.
In the report, the NTSB says the missionary group Mr Wurm founded, Ignite the Fire, planned to load 1,000 pounds of supplies onto the plane, including a generator.
But when they got to the airport the pilot had already loaded about 200 pounds of gear. The report said the pilot checked the stated weight of everything on a report as it was loaded but didn’t weigh the items.
The generator was strapped down in the back while other supplies were stacked on seats in the cabin. The pilot left behind some items for a future flight.
But the NTSB said the plane didn’t make it far from Fort Lauderdale airport before it started to descend sharply after levelling off at 4,000 feet. The plane reached a speed of 270 knots before it crashed.
Security cameras captured the last moments of the flight, showing the plane with its nose pointed 45 degrees down before it plummeted into the water. The plane broke apart on impact.
The NTSB said it had recently been overhauled with new interior finishings and avionics after it was purchased by its current owner in February last year.
In the week before the crash, the plane had made four other trips to Jamaica in the wake of Hurricane Melissa.
The powerful Category 5 storm made landfall in Jamaica on October 28, equalling the strongest landfalling Atlantic hurricane on record.
Hurricane Melissa also wrought havoc in Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, prompting relief organisations to mobilize.
Ignite the Fire said after the crash that the Wurm family was passionate about humanitarian work and their Christian faith.
It said the group Mr Wurm founded is “dedicated to empowering youth through missions and evangelism across the Caribbean”.
