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A preliminary report released by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Tuesday, July 2, states that investigators found no evidence of any pre-impact mechanical malfunctions or failures on either of the plane’s engines prior to the June 17 crash near Albany International Airport.
Emergency crews were called at around 8:15 a.m. that morning for a small plane that was seen "spinning around" before crashing in a wooded area near Albany Shaker and Maxwell roads.
Crews arrived to find the twin-engine Piper PA31 fully engulfed in flames. The impact killed the pilot, 34-year-old Natalie Gillis, and injured a person who was walking near the crash site.
According to the report, Gillis had just taken off from the Albany airport and was returning to Montreal, Canada after conducting aerial survey flights in North Carolina.
Witness accounts, radar tracking data, and airport surveillance video showed that the plane climbed to 200 feet and then remained between 200 and 300 feet until it cleared the end of the runway.
The aircraft then abruptly pitched up, leveled, and pitched up again before climbing to around 800 feet, the report said. The plane then made a “barrel roll,” descended to 200 feet, turned left, and completed one or two 360-degree rolls.
Radar data showed the plane was at an altitude of 200 feet, 1 ½ miles southeast of the airport when it hit the ground, striking several trees along the way. A woman walking near the crash site was struck by debris and suffered minor injuries.
The report notes that Gillis’ plane was fully fueled before she departed the airport.
Federal investigators retained the wreckage and said further examination is needed to determine an official cause of the crash.
Gillis’ employer, KASI Aviation Services, confirmed her death in a Facebook tribute posted Thursday morning, June 20.
“Natalie was a passionate and very talented pilot with an adventurous spirit and palpable zest for life,” the company said. “We are heartbroken by the tragic loss, and our thoughts and sincere sympathies go out to the family and those close to her.”
Her death came a little over a month after she obtained her Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) Certificate, the highest certification a pilot can get. It requires 1,500 hours of total flight time.
“After many hours of studying, taking tests, and making personal sacrifices, Natalie flew others to the Canadian Arctic and slept under her wing in Antarctica,” Scott Forsyth wrote on Facebook. “The sky was literally the limit to the professional opportunities awaiting her.”
Gillis’ talents extended beyond piloting; she was also an acclaimed wilderness and landscape photographer with some of her work gracing the cover of Canadian Geographic magazine.
“Natalie has experienced more of our world than most of us will ever know. From guiding people along the dynamic flow edge of the Canadian Arctic, to sailing the Drake Passage to Antarctica, she shared with us her keen vision through her camera lens, which she paired with words that paint images in our imagination,” Forsyth said.
She was also a poet, having released her first book, "This is Where Atlantis Sank," in 2021.
Among Gillis’ most memorable adventures, according to her obituary, were observing narwhals breach in Nunavut, trekking through the valleys of Baffin Island, encountering penguins and icebergs while sea kayaking in Antarctica, and experiencing the world from the bird’s-eye view of her plane, the Twin Otter.
“Never thwarted by limitations that would stymie most, she always followed through on her dreams,” her memorial said. “Natalie was epic. She was loved. She lived life to the fullest.”
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