NTSB preliminary report details final seconds of fatal Venice plane crash

VENICE – The pilot of a single-engine plane that crashed into the Gulf of Mexico Dec. 3, 2022 got the aircraft up to 75 feet off the ground before hitting the water about one-third of a mile off the end of the runway at Venice Municipal Airport, according to the preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board.

The crash claimed the lives of pilot Christian Kath, 42, his wife Misty Kath, 43, and their daughter Lily, 12. The family had reportedly flown to Venice for dinner.

The report did not cite mechanical issues or weather problems, but noted the darkness, with a lack of a "discernable horizon" during the takeoff, and that the plane was barely climbing.

The NTSB report used information from the Preliminary Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast – ADS-B for short – to track the aircraft from a departure at St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport to its landing in Venice.

That data showed the Piper PA-28 first becoming airborne on Runway 2-3 at 7:37:44 about 900 feet before the end of the 5,000-foot-long runway.

By then it was 50 feet off the ground and travelling at 88 knots, or just over 101 mph. Over the next four seconds, two separate plots had it climbing to 75 feet and reaching 109 knots before crashing into the Gulf at 7:38 p.m., 1,800 feet from the end of the runway.

The bodies of both Misty and Lily Kath were discovered Dec. 4, while the body of Christian Kath has not been found.

The search was called off in the afternoon of Dec. 7, after the possible parameters for the search area had expanded to more than 2,000 square nautical miles.

Related:Family identified as search continues for pilot of plane that crashed off of Venice

While most of the plane was recovered in 15 feet of water offshore of the airport, “about four feet of the fuselage between the instrument panel and the main wing spar box, which contained the main cabin door, the front seats, and and the fuel selector valve was aerated from the airframe and not recovered.”

Christian Kath had rented the airplane – a 1976 Piper PA-28-151 Cherokee Warrior with a tail number of N4676F – at Albert Whitted Airport in St. Petersburg and flew to Venice for dinner, Venice Police reported.

The Kaths lived in St. Petersburg but were originally from Queensland, Australia. Reports published in People Magazine and broadcast by an Australian television station, 7News, noted that their youngest child, a 10-year-old daughter, was at a sleepover at a friend’s house.

Kath rented the plane from St. Pete Aviation Services, LLC – which does business under the name St. Pete Air – where he also learned to fly.

A review of Kath’s rental and instruction record conducted by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector showed that he had 74.2 total hours of flight time, with 67.6 hours coming in the same make and model plane as the Piper Warrior.

He received his private pilot certificate on July 31, 2022 and had 13.5 hours of flight experience since then.

‘No discernable horizon’

According to records available through https://www.fllightaware.com, the family departed from St. Petersburg at 4:42 p.m. , Dec. 3, and landed in Venice at 5:16 p.m.

Flightaware shows that same plane taking off from Venice at 7:37 p.m., with the arrival listed at 7:37 p.m., accompanied by a question mark in parenthesis.

That report prompted the FAA to ask Venice Police to search for the aircraft.

That query came on Dec. 4, at roughly 10 a.m. – the same time recreational divers recovered the body of Misty Kath about 2 ½-miles offshore.

The plane was spotted at about 2 p.m. Dec. 4, by observers in the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office helicopter offshore from the airport, south of the fishing pier.

The NTSB report listed the weather at the time of takeoff as including “wind from 070 degrees at 7 knots, a broken ceiling at 5,000 feet above ground level and 7 statute miles of visibility.”

The report also noted that “airport surveillance video from the time of the accident depicted an airplane departing runway 23 with little or no angle of climb into a dark sky over dark water with no discernable horizon.”

The fatality was the first one logged at the airport in more than 14 years. That earlier accident, which happened the night of March 24, 2008, also involved a single-engine aircraft that crashed into the Gulf of Mexico. It claimed the life of Venice insurance agent Harry K. Lawrence, who crashed near the Venice Municipal Fishing Pier shortly after takeoff.

From 2008:Pilot error, weather could be behind plane crash

Crash damage

The wreckage of the airplane was recovered in two sections by divers on Dec. 5 and brought ashore at Higel Marine Park and taken to a secure location in Jacksonville for examination.

According to the NTSB report, the engine, propeller, engine mounts, firewall and instrument panel were recovered in one piece.

A visual examination of the engine revealed “only minor impact damage to the intake and exhaust stacks, mufflers and ignition P-lead; the carburetor mount was fractured.”

Ultimately the examination found no issues that would hinder the motor’s operation prior to the crash.

The cabin with the second row of seats, the tail and both wings were recovered as a separate piece.

“Both wings displayed uniform crushing along their respective leading edges,” according to the report. “The crushing displayed signatures consistent with hydraulic deformation.”

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: NTSB preliminary report details final seconds of Venice plane crash