RHINE, Ga. — Federal investigators say the pilot of a small plane was performing a rolling maneuver at low altitude when the aircraft crashed into trees in Central Georgia.
The National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report Thursday that a witness said pilot Jake Boney had complained of feeling nauseous after practicing aerobatic maneuvers earlier in the day before he crashed Sept. 12.
The 30-year-old pilot, who worked as a crop duster, was killed in the crash in Rhine southeast of Macon.
The witness told investigators Boney was flying below the tree line and stopped halfway through a rolling maneuver when the plane slammed into the trees at full speed.
The report says an initial examination of the plane's engine found no signs of mechanical problems.
Dodge County Sheriff Brian Robinson told WMAZ at the time that the crash was one of the toughest calls his crew has responded to.
"I've known him since he was a child. He was an all-around good guy, he had way more friends than I probably will ever have, but he was just the type of person that he was charismatic, everyone wanted to be around him," he said.
Boney was involved in another crash last September in Hawkinsville.
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