The National Transportation Safety Board traveled to the scene of this accident.
Additional Participating Entities:
Federal Aviation Administration / Flight Standards District Office; Irving, Texas
Textron Aviation; Wichita, Kansas
New Era Technology; Boardman, Ohio
AMS Aviation LLC
Location: Marlin, Texas
Accident Number: CEN22FA168
Date and Time: April 5, 2022, 12:31 Local
Registration: N858JA
Aircraft: Cessna TU206F
Injuries: 2 Fatal
Flight Conducted Under: Part 91: General aviation - Aerial observation
On April 5, 2022, about 1231 central daylight time, a Cessna TU206F airplane, N858JA, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Marlin, Texas. The 2 pilots were fatally injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 aerial observation flight.
The airplane departed the Houston Executive Airport (TME), Houston, Texas, on a pipeline inspection flight with a destination of Waco, Texas. Preliminary radar and Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) data indicated the airplane first appeared at 1038 near TME. The airplane tracked north-northwest toward Waco, Texas, and climbed to 4,000 ft msl. About an hour and a half into the flight, the airplane turned southwest and began a series of maneuvering turns over the area where the pipeline was located. The airplane continued to maneuver southwest and worked its way to a location 20 miles south of Waco. It then turned to the east toward the Marlin Airport (T15), Marlin, Texas. The pilot contacted Waco Approach Control and informed them that he was landing at T15.
The airplane overflew the airport and entered a left downwind traffic pattern for runway 17. The airplane continued to a left base leg and then final. An Armory security camera located on the airport recorded the airplane on final approach.
The airplane touched down just past the approach end of the runway and bounced back into the air. It touched down a second time in the grass just right of the runway, struck a runway light, veered back on the runway, crossed the runway, and departed the left side of the runway.
The airplane then disappeared behind a building. Mode C position reporting data showed three more airplane positions in close proximity just east of the airport. All track data was lost at 1231. The airplane was about 1,800 ft. southeast of the approach end of runway 17 at T15 when track data was lost.
The accident site was in a treed pasture located on the east side of a gravel road that ran along the east side of T15, and 1 mile northeast of Marlin, Texas. The elevation of the accident site was 410 ft and the terrain was predominately flat.
The airplane impacted in a near vertical attitude and rested upright on its main landing gear and nose on a heading of 281°.
The airplane main wreckage was located about 340 ft east of the runway and consisted of the fuselage, both wings, main landing gear, engine, and empennage.
The propeller and nose landing gear were located west of the airplane. A debris field that contained broken pieces of the windscreen, cowling, glareshield, and instrument panel was located between the airplane and the propeller.
An additional area of debris that consisted of the left wing tip was located beneath a tree about 90 ft west-northwest of the airplane. A broken tree branch was located among the debris.
The airplane’s propeller was located 33 ft. west of the airplane main wreckage and was embedded about 1 ft into the ground. The propeller was broken torsionally at the flange. All three blades showed S-bending and chordwise scratches. A 4 ft by 4 ft impact crater was located beneath the propeller. Pieces of the windscreen were found in the crater. Two 6 in wide and 15 ft long impressions in the ground extended east and west from the impact crater. At the end of the east impression were pieces of the right wing tip and position light.
A second tree located 15 ft south of the impact crater showed several broken branches, which were found on the ground between the propeller and the tree.
An on-scene examination of the airplane revealed no preaccident malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft and Owner/Operator Information
Aircraft Make: Cessna
Registration: N858JA
Model/Series: TU206F
Aircraft Category: Airplane
Amateur Built:
Operator: On file
Operating Certificate(s) Held: None
Operator Designator Code:
Meteorological Information and Flight Plan
Conditions at Accident Site: VMC
Condition of Light: Day
Observation Facility, Elevation: KACT,498 ft msl
Observation Time: 11:51 Local
Distance from Accident Site: 25 Nautical Miles
Temperature/Dew Point: 30°C /17.8°C
Lowest Cloud Condition: Clear
Wind Speed/Gusts, Direction: 15 knots / , 240°
Lowest Ceiling:
Visibility: 10 miles
Altimeter Setting: 29.62 inches Hg
Type of Flight Plan Filed:
Departure Point: Houston, TX (TME)
Destination: Waco, TX
Wreckage and Impact Information
Crew Injuries: 2 Fatal
Aircraft Damage: Substantial
Passenger Injuries: N/A
Aircraft Fire: None
Ground Injuries:
Aircraft Explosion: None
Total Injuries: 2 Fatal
Latitude, Longitude: 31.339384,-96.85044 (est)
Aircraft crashed under unknown circumstances.
Date: 05-APR-22
Time: 17:43:00Z
Regis#: N858JA
Aircraft Make: CESSNA
Aircraft Model: TU206
Event Type: ACCIDENT
Highest Injury: FATAL
Total Fatal: 2
Flight Crew: 2 fatal
Activity: OTHER
Flight Phase: LANDING (LDG)
Operation: 91
Aircraft Missing: No
Damage: UNKNOWN
City: MARLIN
State: TEXAS
Those who may have information that might be relevant to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation may contact them by email witness@ntsb.gov, and any friends and family who want to contact investigators about the accident should email assistance@ntsb.gov. You can also call the NTSB Response Operations Center at 844-373-9922 or 202-314-6290.
Thomas Sands Jr. and Cinnamon Franklin
MARLIN, Texas (KWTX) - The people killed when a small aircraft crashed near the Marlin Airport in Falls County on Tuesday were identified as Thomas Sands Jr., 55, of Sugar Land, Texas, and Cinnamon Franklin, 27, of Greenwood, Indiana, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
The occupants of the Cessna plane were pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities do not yet know who was operating the plane since both Sands and Franklin were pilots and the cause of the crash remains under investigation.
“Right now, it is a mystery. We have a lot of information we still have to look at,” said David Bowling, an air safety investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board.
The federal agency’s investigators spent Wednesday in Marlin investigating the wreckage and plan to have it transported to a warehouse in Dallas where they can continue their examination.
Falls County Sheriff Joe Lopez said the crash was reported at about 12:45 p.m. on April 5 near the airport located off McClanahan Road (FM 147) and CR 134.
The plane was reportedly heading to the airport in Waco from Houston and the NTSB has learned the pilots were planning to stop at the Marlin Airport before arriving in Waco.
“From my understanding, (the people killed in the crash) are experienced pilots so I don’t know if it was mechanical (failure) or maybe something else,” Sheriff Lopez said, “Our heart goes out to the people involved. Like the old saying, you never know when the good Lord is going to call.”
The NTSB said Sands and Franklin were in the middle of a pipeline patrol flight, which means they were surveying a pipeline from the air. Experts said those flights involve a lot of maneuvering and flying close to the ground.
The plane did not erupt in flames after it crashed and the NTSB said that will help in the investigation, which will examine three factors: the state of machinery, the environment and the pilots.
Investigators are examining the engine, the plane’s controls and its fuel. So far, they have uncovered no evidence of anything malfunctioning. “Both wing tanks have adequate fuel in there,” said Bowling, “We aren’t finding anything yet that may have contributed to the accident.”
Investigators also plan to speak with pilots who landed at the Marlin Airport earlier on Tuesday to learn more about weather conditions. The weather in Marlin was hot, but not windy at the time of the plane crash.
The final piece of the puzzle will be to investigate the pilots. “We are going to look into the experience and background of the crew,” Bowling said.
Autopsies and toxicology reports have been ordered but those results could take months.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Family and friends say Cinnamon Franklin died doing what she loved.
The 27-year-old Greenwood pilot was killed Tuesday afternoon in a plane crash in Texas.
The crash also killed the other person on board the plane, 55-year-old Thomas Sands, of Sugar Land, Texas, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
It’s not clear who was flying the plane.
Franklin’s best friend and cousin, Darian Hornaday, says Franklin didn’t always know she wanted to be a pilot.
“Once she went to Germany … like, a lightbulb just went off in her head, and she was like, ‘I have to see everything I can,’” Hornaday said.
Hornaday says that trip changed Franklin’s entire life. She says Franklin knew that if she wanted to travel and get paid for it, the only direction she could go was up.
“She wanted to fly the big planes, make the big bucks, and, you know, be able to live that kind of life she wanted,” Hornaday said.
Franklin spent most of her life in Martinsville and later began working at the Greenwood airport. She became a licensed commercial pilot in 2021 and moved to Ohio to start her career.
“I know that she really loved her job and she was really loving her life and she overcame every adversity that was ever thrown her way,” Hornaday said.
Hornaday says Franklin’s job took her all over the country, including to Texas, where she died.
Franklin and Sands were in a Cessna TU206F Turbo Stationair when it went down in a field near the Marlin Airport in Marlin, Texas, about 30 miles southeast of Waco, says the Texas Department of Public Safety.
“I called her phone and I just … it rang and I let it ring and ring and ring and she didn’t pick up and I was just hoping that she would, you know, maybe they were wrong, maybe it wasn’t her. Maybe it wasn’t her plane,” Hornaday said, in tears.
Hornaday shared stories of Franklin taking her up in her plane. She says those are the memories Franklin would want her to think of whenever she looks up at the sky.
“‘It’s not fair, but, you know, all I can hope for is that she’s flying high in the bluest skies that she’s ever seen,” Hornaday said.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash. The cause of the crash has not been determined.
MARLIN, Texas (KWTX) - The people killed when a small aircraft crashed near the Marlin Airport in Falls County on Tuesday were identified as Thomas Sands Jr., 55, of Sugar Land, Texas, and Cinnamon Franklin, 27, of Greenwood, Indiana, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
The occupants of the Cessna plane were pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities do not yet know who was operating the plane since both Sands and Franklin were pilots.
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board are in Marlin investigating the crash and plan to have the wreckage transported to a warehouse in Dallas where they can continue their examination.
Falls County Sheriff Joe Lopez said the crash was reported at about 12:45 p.m. on March 5 near the airport located off McClanahan Road (FM 147) and CR 134.
The plane was reportedly heading to the airport in Waco from Houston and the NTSB has learned the people on board were planning to stop at the Marlin Airport before arriving in Waco.
“From my understanding, (the people killed in the crash) are experienced pilots so I don’t know if it was mechanical (failure) or maybe something else,” Sheriff Lopez said, “Our heart goes out to the people involved. Like the old saying, you never know when the good Lord is going to call.”
The plane did not erupt in flames after it crashed and the NTSB said that will help in the investigation. It is looking at three factors: the machinery, the environment and the pilots.
Investigators are examining the engine, the plane’s controls and its fuel. So far, they have uncovered no evidence of anything malfunctioning.
Investigators plan to speak with pilots who landed at the Marlin Airport earlier on Tuesday to learn more about weather conditions. The weather in Marlin was hot, but not windy at the time of the plane crash.
MARLIN, Texas — Two people are dead after a plane crash near Marlin, Texas Tuesday afternoon, according to Marlin City Manager Cedric Davis.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, a Cessna TU206F Turbo Stationair crashed around 12:40 p.m. east of the Marlin Airport, 500 block FM 147. The plane was flying from Houston Executive Airport to Waco Regional Airport, per FAA.
City officials told 6 News around 1 p.m. a call came into the Marlin Police Department and Marlin Fire Department about a small plane down in a field.
DPS Sgt. Ryan Howard told 6 News FAA will lead the investigation alongside National Transportation Safety Board. The NTSB will provide additional updates.