Crime & Safety

Witnesses Saw Crashed Plane Doing Aerobatics

A preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board says Paul Sowell was performing maneuvers before his plane came down outside Redlands Municipal Airport.

A man whose small aircraft crashed near the Redlands Municipal Airport last month had been performing aerobatics, according to a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board.

On Sept. 19, 45-year-old Paul Sowell, of Redlands had been performing maneuvers in his Pitts S-2B airplane when the aircraft collided with the ground, NTSB officials said. The incident was reported at 8:50 a.m., according to Carl Baker, spokesman with the Redlands Police Department.

The plane came down just to the south of the airport, collided with a unoccupied vehicle outside of Hangar 24 Brewery and skidded to a halt on Sessums Drive before bursting into flames.

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Witnesses helped pull Sowell to safety. Sowell only suffered some cuts and complained of back pain. He was treated at Loma Linda University Medical Center.

According to the report, witnesses said they saw the pilot performing aerobatics over the runway when it hit part of the terrain near the airport’s perimeter fence. The report says there was no flight plan filed for the flight, which began from the airport about 8:30 a.m.

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The crash came about two weeks before an air show, which had been scheduled for Saturday, was cancelled by organizers due to a fee dispute with the city.


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