NTSB report says pilot in fatal Palo Alto crash appeared confused about airport location

A small plane crash in Palo Alto left one person dead and two injured on Tuesday, September 4, 2018. A small plane crash in Palo Alto left one person dead and two injured on Tuesday, September 4, 2018. Photo: Palo Alto Fire Department Photo: Palo Alto Fire Department Image 1 of / 25 Caption Close NTSB report says pilot in fatal Palo Alto crash appeared confused about airport location 1 / 25 Back to Gallery

A newly released report from the National Transportation Safety Board revealed that the pilot of a small plane that crashed into a tidal flat in Palo Alto last month was confused about the location of the airport.

The pilot, W. John Spencer, died in the crash Sept. 4 that injured his two passengers, a 16-year-old girl and her mother, who were on an Angel flight from Redding to Stanford Medical Center. Angel Flight provides free, non-emergency transport to adults and children with serious medical conditions.

According to the report, Spencer appeared confused about the location of Palo Alto Airport minutes before landing. When an air traffic controller instructed Spencer to “fly to KGO,” a set of radio towers, the pilot responded that he was unfamiliar with them. The controller then instructed Spencer to fly to the Dumbarton Bridge and cleared the plane for landing. About two minutes before landing, Spencer said he was having trouble locating the airport and was going to abort the landing to try again. The controller asked Spencer if he needed help and Spencer declined.

A flight instructor and student were watching as the plane came in along runway 13. They saw the plane “porpoise” — on the ground it bounced back and forth between the landing gear on the nose and the landing gear on the main body of the plane — before lifting off again. Then, the flight instructor watched the plane bank to the left and then sharply downward before plummeting to the ground. The plane hit a fence before coming to rest in a tidal flat near the Palo Alto Duck Pond about 900 feet away from the runway.

Spencer died in the crash. 16-year-old Chloe King suffered minor injuries and walked away from the wreckage, while her mom, Nancy Dellamaria, suffered serious injuries. Both were transported to Stanford Trauma Center.

The report noted that at the time of the crash, visibility extended seven miles and skies had scattered clouds.

The pilot’s logbook noted that he’d logged several trips to Palo Alto Airport, including four flights in the plane that crashed and 28 trips to Palo Alto Airport in two other single-engine planes.

Ashley McBride is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ashley.mcbride@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ashleynmcb