National Transportation Safety Board Air Safety Investigator Todd Gunther speaks at a press conference at the Lake Placid Airport on Tuesday, Oct. 3. (News photo — Sydney Emerson)

LAKE PLACID — The road to the North Elba Athletic Fields was still closed Wednesday as federal aviation investigators continue to look into the cause of a fatal airplane crash at the Lake Placid Airport on Sunday, Oct. 1, a crash they say started when the Cessna’s engine lost power.

On Tuesday, National Transportation Safety Board investigator Todd Gunther shed more light on what happened aboard the aircraft that led to the deaths of two seasoned pilots — Russ Francis, a former NFL tight end who recently purchased the Lake Placid Airways scenic tour business at the airport, and Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association’s Senior Vice President Richard McSpadden.

Their tragic deaths struck hard in the sports and general aviation worlds, and with their many friends and family members. In the days after the crash, people from around the world were seen on social media mourning and honoring the icons of the field and the air.

The crash happened around 4:05 p.m. Sunday at the end of a runway, close to the North Elba Athletic Fields and Recycle Circle Lane, shortly after takeoff after “a hard roll to the left,” according to initial NTSB reporting.

Gunther said the plane apparently lost engine power at around 1,000 feet elevation and the pilots attempted to turn and land back on the runway.

Lake Placid volunteer firefighters work on retrieving a plane that crashed, killing two, at the Lake Placid Airport on Sunday, Oct. 1. (News photo — Aaron Marbone)

The National Traffic Safety Board is leading the investigation and the Federal Aviation Administration issued a brief incident report on Monday.

Gunther said there were two separate aircrafts scheduled for this flight. The other plane carried a photographer for the AOPA’s Pilot magazine. They were planning a scenic photoshoot of the 1976 Cessna 177RG that Francis and McSpadden were flying. The photographer’s plane took off first, followed by the Cessna, which is owned by Lake Placid Airways.

“The engine apparently lost power,” Gunther said. “The pilot, or pilots in this case, turned back toward the runway.”

This plane has two steering columns.

McSpadden was in the right seat — the passenger seat — according to the AOPA.

The sign at the Lake Placid Airport is seen on state Route 73. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

Gunther said they were attempting to land in the opposite direction from which they had taken off when the plane hit a berm at the end of the runway and fell around 30 feet into a ravine.

They had not been in the air long, he said, and were trying to catch up with the photography plane.

“When the airplane was observed, it did not appear to be climbing very well,” Gunther said.

Gunther said numerous witnesses told investigators that the pilots called over the radio, telling other aviators they had a problem and were returning to the airport.

Essex County Coroner Jay Heald said autopsies were being conducted Monday morning but deferred to New York State Police Troop B spokespersons for further comment.

The plane’s “N-Number” registration was released by the FAA on Monday. This identified that the plane they were in was a a fixed wing single-engine Cessna 177 Cardinal owned by Lake Placid Flying Service Inc. It had a valid certificate of registration issued in 1990 which lasted through 2029.

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Eyewitnesses ran to help

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Ryan Branchaud was sitting on the front porch of his home in the Cascade Acres neighborhood across Recycle Circle Lane from the end of the runway when the crash happened.

He said he saw the plane take off toward Cascade Acres. He’s not sure the exact altitude, but at maybe 200 feet, he saw the plane take a sharp right — appearing to attempt to land back on the runway — crash into the top of the embankment at the end of the tarmac, and slide down the hill.

Branchaud was in shock. He doesn’t know why, but he immediately jumped in his car and drove over to the crash site, along with a neighbor, Kevin Reynolds, and Lake Placid School fifth-grade teacher Jon Fremante.

“We tried opening the door, but the wing was bent down so much that we couldn’t pry the door open,” Branchaud said. “Fuel was pouring onto the backs of their heads.”

Fremante used a rag and then a curved piece of the windshield to divert the fuel while Branchaud tapped on the shattered glass to try to keep the Francis and McSpadden conscious. They did this until the emergency service professionals arrived at the top of the embankment and threw ropes down for them to climb out.

Branchaud’s daughter Autumn was worried the fuel would catch fire. The engine was smoking, but he wasn’t thinking about that. Though he remembers taking the fire extinguisher out of the plane and setting it next to him just in case.

“It was just an instinct that kicked in to go try and help,” Branchaud said. “I had to be there. I don’t know what made me be there. … I don’t know what came over me to hurry up and get over there.”

After the emergency crews arrived, Branchaud stayed out of the way, gave a statement to police and went back to his porch.

“I watched the pilot take his last breath yesterday,” Branchaud said Monday.

McSpadden, the passenger, was taking deep breaths, trying to stay alive, when emergency workers arrived.

It wasn’t clear to Branchaud what caused the crash. He didn’t hear anything abnormal with the engine, he said. He’s heard airplanes backfire while taking off, but nothing like that happened on Sunday.

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The scene, investigation

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Dozens of emergency personnel were at the scene on Sunday. The plane was sideways, down near the bottom of an embankment at the end of the runway, visible from Recycle Circle Road.

Several gliders were still in the air above the airfield after the crash, and they were directed to land elsewhere at the airport.

Lake Placid emergency services, New York State Police, Saranac Lake Volunteer Rescue Squad and state Department of Environmental Conservation forest rangers responded.

New York State Police Troop B spokeswoman Brandi Ashley said in a statement that the aircraft “crashed at the northeast corner of the airport striking an earth embankment.” She identified Francis and McSpadden, providing McSpadden’s age, 63, and hometown — Frederick, Maryland.

On Monday, NTSB spokesperson Keith Holloway said the agency’s investigators will document the scene; examine the aircraft; try to contact any witnesses; and request air traffic communications, radar data, weather reports, maintenance records of the aircraft, and medical records and flight history of the pilot.

“It is important to note that NTSB does not determine cause in the early part of the investigative process,” Holloway wrote. “This is considered the fact gathering phase of the investigation.”

Gunther said there are six other investigators working hard on this. So far, they’ve been gathering witness interviews from people on the ground and in other aircraft. They’ve also been combing over the crashed plane to determine if any parts fell off in flight, if the plane had any structural failure, and if all the systems — fuel, flight control, vacuum, locations and electronics — were functioning properly.

Gunther said flight plans are not always filed with short flights like the one planned Sunday.

He also said a “black box,” which records all flight data and voices in the cockpit, is not required by federal law for this style of aircraft, because of their small size and passenger capacity.

Specialists in Washington, D.C. are looking at weather, pilots flight records, flight physiology and maintenance records on the aircraft.

Gunther said the investigative team will be working in Lake Placid until Friday, Oct. 6. When they return, they’ll begin a preliminary report on the crash, to be released in seven to 10 business days after.

In 18 months, the NTSB will issue a final factual report including analysis and a probable cause for the crash.

The plane was built in 1976. Gunther said personal planes are supposed to be inspected annually. The NTSB has obtained the maintenance records for the plane, he said, and will be looking into them in the next few days.

Gunther offered condolences to their friends and families.

Lake Placid Airways, formerly known as the Adirondack Flying Service, operates a flight service at the Lake Placid Airport. It was transferred to new ownership this year after nearly 50 years under Steve Short, who took over the airport after his father, the previous owner, suffered an aneurysm in 1974. Al Furnia started the Adirondack Flying Service; Steve Short’s father took over from Furnia after Furnia got cancer.

Francis was the new owner of Lake Placid Airways alongside Rives Potts, 74.

Francis was drafted as both a pitcher for the Kansas City Royals in the 1974 Major League Baseball draft and as a third-string tight end for the New England Patriots in 1975. He went the football route. He was selected for the Pro Bowl during three consecutive seasons — 1977, 1978 and 1979 — and sat out the 1981 NFL season before playing six years with the San Francisco 49ers. It was with the 49ers that he would earn a Super Bowl ring in 1985. He retired in 1989 with 393 receptions and 5,262 receiving yards over his career.

When he was designated All-Pro, sports broadcaster and Francis’ friend Howard Cosell said he was “All-World.”

McSpadden, 63, was senior vice president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and a pilot with an “infectious passion” for flight and aircraft safety. McSpadden had been with the AOPA since 2017, first as the executive director of AOPA’s Air Safety Institute and since 2020 as the senior VP. He wrote many reports on crashes, which served as guides to others on how to avoid tragedy. His death in an airplane crash struck to the heart of the aviation enthusiasts who followed his work.

There have been at least 17 airplane crashes in Lake Placid since 1962, the most recent in 2014, according to National Transportation Safety Board records and past articles in the Lake Placid News and Adirondack Daily Enterprise..

(Adirondack Daily Enterprise Managing Editor Elizabeth Izzo contributed reporting.)