BY DAN HILDEBRAN
General manager
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS—A 21-year-old Melrose man died when his Cherokee Piper 180 crashed in Paynes Prairie State Park, south of Gainesville, on Tuesday, Nov. 14.
Adrien James Valentine had just purchased the aircraft two weeks prior and had taken off from Kissimmee Gateway Airport around 12:45 p.m. According to media reports, Valentine flew about 100 miles north toward Gainesville. At about 1:25 p.m., the pilot flew 1,000 feet before climbing again to about 3,000 feet and turning west.
WUFT reported that at around 2 p.m., the plane rapidly made a series of sharp turns and climbed as high as 6,800 feet before crashing at about 300 mph.
The media outlet added that when the 2020 Keystone Heights High School graduate took off from Kissimmee, he was operating under visual flight rules. Shortly before his departure, an air traffic controller warned him that Gainesville was under instrument flight rules due to bad weather.
The National Transportation Safety Board said Valentine reported a “flight control malfunction” shortly before the plane went down.
WUFT said it obtained a recording of Valentine’s calls to air traffic controllers. The Gainesville PBS affiliate reported that before losing communications, the 21-year-old asked air traffic controllers to tell his parents that he loved them.
