Final report released on fatal 2021 airplane crash in Fulton County

The final report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has been released on a 2021 fatal airplane crash in Fulton County. The crash claimed the lives of two people, 57-year-old Bradley Dunham of Bono, the pilot, and 52-year-old Christine Ann Price of Walnut Ridge. The plane had taken off from Geneseo, Illinois and was headed to Walnut Ridge before crashing in eastern Fulton County near the Sharp County line.When the plane crashed, there was heavy fog in the area. Rescuers were called out at 5:30 on a Sunday night but the search was called off between 1 and 2 that Monday morning. The wreckage wasn’t found until later that Monday morning.
According to the NTSB report, Dunham was not instrument rated and the airplane was not equipped for instrument flight. While en route, Dunham contacted air traffic control and requested weather at the Walnut Ridge airport along with other airports. He told air traffic control he was over the Walnut Ridge airport and he wanted to land because he had less than a quarter of tank of fuel left. He then informed air traffic control he was setting up to land at an alternate airport (the Sharp County Airport at Ash Flat) because weather conditions further west were showing visual meteorological conditions when radar contact was lost.

The report says “A review of meteorological data showed low cloud ceilings, low visibility, and low-level windshear prevailed at the accident site. Based on the weather conditions and the flight track data, it is likely the pilot encountered low cloud ceilings and low visibility conditions. The flight track data was consistent with the known effects of spatial disorientation. It is likely there were no outside visual references, the pilot had an increase in workload due to spatial disorientation, and he was unable to recover the airplane from its descent. The airplane impacted trees and terrain with a near-vertical descent angle. The airplane was destroyed.”

Price sent two text messages to a family member while in flight. One said “ran into weather can’t see anything” and another text message later stated, “out of gas in air.”

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