BY DAN HILDEBRAN
The National Transportation Safety Board blamed excessive airspeed on a March 2, 2022, flight from Keystone Heights to St. Augustine that resulted in the pilot’s death.
Marianne Fox, 49, was piloting an Extra NG aerobatic plane when she departed Keystone Heights around 4:45 p.m. She was flying with her fiancée Jim Bourke, president of the International Aerobatic Club. Bourke was in a separate Extra NG.
In its final report on the crash, recently released, the NTSB said Fox’s plane overturned and landed upside down in a marsh beyond the runway and that she survived the impact, telling the tower, “I had too much speed; I should have come in slower.”
The federal agency reported that the airport dispatched a riverboat to rescue the pilot, but the vessel was delayed by low tide.
“A good Samaritan was the first to reach the airplane and provided visual directions to assist the emergency boats in locating it,” the NTSB said. “The good Samaritan reported that the airplane was inverted in the marsh and that he was able to reach in and hold part of the pilot’s face out of the water.”
However, by the time rescuers arrived on the scene in airboats, the water level in the cockpit had risen, and the pilot was no longer visible. They extracted Fox from the plane 50 minutes after the crash. The cause of death was drowning.
According to flight recordings, Bourke warned Fox she was approaching the airport too high and instructed her to execute a slip: turning the plane somewhat sideways to increase drag on the fuselage, hastening the aircraft’s descent.
“You’re going to make it now, Marianne,” Bourke radioed. “Just cut the throttle and slip it in. You’ve got a lot of energy now. Just cut the throttle and slip it really deep.”
The tower radioed to first responders after the crash, indicating that Fox was trapped in the cockpit.
“Alright, airport people, that woman needs help out there,” an air traffic controller radioed. “She’s trapped in the cockpit. She needs help.”
Fox was first transported to Flagler Hospital in St. Augustine but was later airlifted to a trauma unit. She died 12 hours after the crash.
The NTSB said that the loss of engine power for undetermined reasons was a factor in the crash.
“Contributing to the severity of the accident were the environmental challenges related to the airplane’s location in a marsh,” the federal agency said, “which increased the emergency response time.”
