Pilot performing stunts and his friend die in Houston-area plane crash

Patrick Falterman fueled an airplane in June 2015 in Liberty County.

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The Dallas Morning News



Published: 04 September 2016 01:16 PM

Updated: 04 September 2016 02:54 PM

The Liberty County Sheriff's Office says two men died in a plane crash, apparently while they were performing stunts above the Trinity River.



The 26-year-old pilot, Patrick Joseph Falterman from the city of Cleveland near Houston, and his friend, 25-year-old Zach Esters, who was visiting from Louisiana, died after the plane went nose-down into the river about 6:50 p.m. Saturday a quarter-mile south of the State Highway 105 bridge in Liberty County.



Witnesses said the plane was flying low over the river, and the pilot appeared to be attempting stunts, including a backward loop, when the engine stalled at the peak of the loop maneuver. The pilot's relatives were among the witnesses.



Sheriff's deputies who were called to the scene found the plane 8 to 10 feet deep in the water.







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From The Associated Press



Posted by Julieta Chiquillo, Breaking News Hub reporter

Dam I was just talking about him - known on STP as Sucuri - he was a prolific contributor here for a while - canoed the Amazon for three years --- and shall miss him. I have not heard from him in a couple years and hoped he was ok, but I see that it was written on his blog that he has passed. An amazing person who lived a full life investigating the world. I messaged him quite a bit when he was within connection to load his info and pics.Check out his blog - but also do a search on STP of just "amazon" and you'll bring up so much of his stuff with lots of his pics that he posted. @Matt Derrick His avatar and yeah I asked him - he ate all sorts of things along the amazon. Snakes, birds, monkeys and yes the fish - piranahs as well.He went down in a plane accident. @Hiceadha Hope you don't mind but I added Patrick's STP name to your title.