Preliminary Report Issued on Attorney Stephen Barnes Fatal Plane Crash

The National Transportation Safety Board has issued a preliminary report about the October 2020 plane crash in Genesee County that killed prominent attorney Stephen Barnes and his niece.

The report does not identify the cause of the crash, but concludes the plane spiraled into the ground at a very high speed.

Barnes was flying the plane and was told by controllers to begin descending from 28,000 feet to 8,000 feet.

Over the next two minutes, he first reported everything was fine, then gave a garbled message to a controller. When told to stop his descent, he did not respond. The plane crashed two minutes later.

A final report could come in the next few months.


View Full Site