A National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report indicates the pilot of the single-engine plane that crashed near Galt on February 8th ignored warnings about bad weather before the crash.
Grundy County Coroner Dewayne Slater confirmed 85-year-old Philip Lefevre, Senior of Saint Louis, and 47-year-old Philip Lefevre, Junior of Sunset Hills, died in the crash.
The plane took off from Saint Louis. The NTSB noted the plane’s windscreen was obscured by ice, and the plane was covered with ice when it landed in Moberly. The pilot was said to have asked for help deicing the plane. The pilot was not named in the report.
The NTSB reports the pilot ignored suggestions to stay in Moberly until the weather improved and allegedly said he would fly north because he believed the weather was better. Witnesses said the men planned to spend the night in Nebraska before flying to Colorado. The Cessna 177 went missing on February 8th, and a search began, with the wreckage discovered in a secluded, wooded area near highways 6 and 139 north on February 9th.
According to investigators, the initial impact occurred 30 feet above the ground, with the plane’s engine not showing any signs of losing power.
