The final report from the National Transportation Safety Board on the airplane crash on Oct. 2, 2015, that killed four prominent Warsaw men was released July 5.

It states that the board determined the probable cause of the accident was “the pilot’s loss of airplane control for reasons that could not be determined based on the available information.”

Warsaw City Councilman Charlie Smith, his son and local attorney Scott Smith, former Tippecanoe Valley High School football coach Scott Bibler and retired Sprint car driver Tony Elliott were killed when Charlie Smith’s Piper PA32R airplane went down in Westminster, S.C., on their way to a University of Notre Dame vs. Clemson football game. The flight originated from Warsaw Municipal Airport.

Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer said he saw the report about a week ago. He said that with the investigation putting everything together, it provides closure but nothing has changed. “I’m glad it’s been resolved,” he said.

Tippecanoe Valley Athletic Director Duane Burkhart also saw the report about a week ago.

“I saw the report and there’s closure to that, but I don’t know if it gave an exact reason for what happened that day,” he said.

Burkhart said the four men are missed by a lot of people on a daily basis. “They’ve touched so many lives in the Warsaw and Tippecanoe Valley communities,” he said, and the plane crash was the single-largest event that impacted both communities in a tragic way. “A lot of people speak of the gentlemen on a daily basis.”

According to information provided by the Federal Aviation Administration, the en route portion of the flight was uneventful. Due to other traffic landing at Oconee County Regional Airport and prevailing weather, Charlie was told to expect to hold “at the ZEYLM intersection before executing the RNAV runway 7 approach” at the Oconee airport. At 3:02 p.m., the flight was told to hold at ZEYLM?at 6,000 feet.

Recorded radar data showed that the airplane approached ZEYLM at 6,000 feet on a southeasterly heading, passing over it at 3:08 p.m. After passing the intersection, the airplane began a turn to the right consistent with the published holding pattern on the approach chart, but it continued to turn a full 180 degrees toward the opposite direction. At 3:09 p.m., the flight was cleared for the approach and the pilot reported that he was “outbound now” and would report when the plane was established on the procedure turn inbound.

A minute later, at 5,991 feet altitude, the airplane entered an increasingly tightening, descending right turn, and within 16 seconds, its ground speed increased from 150 to 212 knots.

At 3:10:56 p.m., the pilot of a military flight reported hearing a “mayday” call that an airplane was “going down.”

The controller tried to contact the pilot when the pilot didn’t report inbound on the approach, but no response was received.

Radar data showed the flight in a right, descending spiral until radar contact was lost over Lake Hartwell on the Georgia and South Carolina border. The last recorded GPS point of the airplane was at 3:10:44 p.m. in the vicinity of the main wreckage location.

The report says local residents reported hearing and seeing the airplane descending vertically in a spiral motion and that the engine was running until ground impact.

Examination of the airframe and engine revealed no evidence of mechanical malfunctions or failures,  Fractures to the right wing and stabilator were consistent with overstress and likely occurred during an attempted recovery from the descending spiral.

An autopsy on Charlie revealed severe atherosclerosis in the vasculature of the brain and heart, the report states. There were indications that he had experienced a previous heart attack, but his wife was unaware of a previous heart attack or heart condition, the report states. He had not reported any heart issues to the FAA.

The report states, “Given the circumstances of the accident and pilot’s cardiac conditions, it is possible that he became acutely incapacitated by a sudden cardio- or cerebro-vascular event and that could have resulted in the loss of airplane control. Because the pilot suffered fatal blunt force injuries within a few minutes after symptoms began, no findings indicating the acute event would be expected to be visible on autopsy, and none were found; thus it could not be determined whether the loss of control was the result of incapacitation or if there was another reason that the airplane departed controlled flight and the pilot was unable to regain control.”

Charlie, 71, reported 1,448 hours total flight time on his most recent application for an FAA third-class medical certificate, dated Oct. 17, 2013. A review of his logbook revealed the last entry was made Sept. 21, 2015, at which time he had logged in 1,736.40 total hours.

Scott Smith, 44, was seated in the right cockpit seat. He held an FAA student pilot certificate, dated Oct. 17, 2013. At that time, he reported 40 hours of total flight time and 32 hours in the previous six months.

The complete report is available online at http://tinyurl.com/y9wwmspb.