UPDATE: The National Transportation Saftey Board has released released its preliminary report on the crash that resulted in the deaths of a Louisiana physician and two of his children earlier this month.
The report states that the pilot, Dr. Lucius "Tre" Doucet, had left an airport in Gonzalez with two passengers and was on his way to Louisiville to pick up a third when the crash happened. As he traveled over the Mississippi border and neared the Nashville airport, he asked for a deviation in his flight plan which was approved - but he didn't say why he needed it, the report states.
The pilot also asked for a higher altitude, which also was approved, the report states. The plane then entered an area of "moderate to heavy preciptation" and lost altitude. The controllers tried several times to contact the pilot, but never got a response and then the system lost radar contact with the plane, the report states.
You can read the section of that report below:
"Preliminary weather data showed that while established on the 360° track, the airplane entered an area with depicted moderate to heavy precipitation (figure 1). The airplane momentarily descended to 8,900 feet, and then made a right turn to the northeast for several miles before initiating a right descending turn to a track of 213°. The groundspeed increased from 180 kts to 214 kts and the vertical speed decreased to a 4,000 fpm descent. The controller made several attempts to contact the pilot, which went unanswered and radar contact was lost shortly thereafter. ADS-B data for the final moments of the flight showed that as the airplane entered a 5,000 fpm rate of descent, the groundspeed rapidly decreased to 43 kts and the vertical speed then reached a descent rate of more than 15,000 fpm," the report states.
The report says that several witnesses said they heard a loud "pop" as the plane descended. One witness recorded a video that depicted pieces of the plane falling through cloud cover.
In general, it's usually at least a year before a final report is issued for a crash like this.
Here's the full report:
Here's our previous story on the crash:
A well-known Baton Rouge plastic surgeon and Opelousas native, Dr. Lucius "Tre" Doucet, has died in a Nashville plane crash, along with two of his three children.
His medical practice posted an announcement this morning. Doucet had practiced in Baton Rouge for 30 years, an "exceptional surgen but also a compassionate man," the post states.
Our sister Scripps station WTVF in Nashville reports about the crash here.
They report that officials believe the plane broke apart in the air. Audio from Air Traffic Control discussed the plane starting to descend from 9,000 feet. It talked about the plane having options to land 16 miles north. Its last communication to the plane was that air traffic controllers saw the plane heading back south. The control tower kept trying to reach the plane — it's not clear how the pilot responded from the audio. The plane was owned by Doucet and he was the pilot, officials say.
The bio on his practice website says he "raised three brilliant children in Baton Rouge who are now in the fields of medicine and engineering. He enjoys spending time with his family and friends when he is not pursuing his favorite hobby, aviation. As in aviation, technology is always improving in cosmetic surgery."
LSU posted that two of those children, Giselle and Jean-Luc, were on the plane with him and died in the crash as well. They were both seniors at LSU who were scheduled to graduate tomorrow.
A close family source tells KATC that they were going to visit his third child, who lives in Louisville, Kentucky.
That family source continued to say:
"Lucius Doucet was a loving father, friend, and son. He took his work as a surgeon seriously when it came to caring for his patients," The family is in shock as they process the loss of an incredible human with a loving soul."
A pilot close to the family says, "Doucet was a great guy and a very skilled pilot."
He went on to say: "The plane Dr. Doucet used for travel is known as the Dr. Killer and is an aircraft that is very intricate to operate, especially in unfavorable weather conditions."
To read the full report you can access it here:
