Once the pilot called out "Mayday," he was cleared to land the plane on any runway,
NEW SMYRNA BEACH  -  Paul Rooy was flying at an altitude of about 300 feet in his twin-engine Cessna 337 when he called out "Mayday," the last transmission received before the aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff from New Smyrna Beach Municipal Airport. That's according to a preliminary report released Tuesday by the National Transportation Safety Board on the Feb. 13 crash that killed Rooy, 56, a local attorney and longtime pilot who was president of the Friends of New Smyrna Airport and co-founded the annual New Smyrna Beach Balloon & Sky Fest. Once Rooy called out "Mayday," he was cleared to land the plane on any runway, according to the report. Eyewitnesses told investigators the airplane was observed in a left wing down bank when it hit a tree, power lines and then struck another tree before crashing in a cow pasture west of the airport. "The witnesses further stated that they heard the engine producing power; however, they could not determine if both engines were operating with power," the report read. An examination of the wreckage revealed all "major components" of the airplane were present at the crash scene, and there was fuel in the left and right wing tanks. Rooy had not filed a flight plan, according to the report. Mike Holoman, a longtime friend of Rooy's who has been a pilot for about 30 years, said Rooy did not need to file a flight plan because he did not have a particular destination that day. "He was not going anywhere, he was just flying around local," he said. A full report detailing the cause of the crash could take three months to a year to complete, Shawn Etcher, an NTSB air safety investigator, said while at the crash scene Feb. 14. NTSB records show 13 other crashes involving Cessna T337s have been investigated by the agency in 13 years, including five with fatalities. Holoman said he had flown many times in Rooy's Cessna T337C Skymaster and considered the aircraft "extremely safe." It's easier for a pilot to keep control of the plane during engine failure because of the position of the engines, he said. The Cessna 337's engines are in the nose and rear of the fuselage, unlike other twin-engine models where the engines are on the wings. "You don't have the issues of torque that you do with the other type twins," he said. Rooy had flown the Cessna to South America two years ago, taking off from New Smyrna Beach Municipal Airport. He also piloted the aircraft to deliver supplies to disaster-stricken areas including the Caribbean islands as part of a humanitarian relief organization the couple started called Volunteers Without Boundaries. Those relief efforts also included rescuing pets that had been displaced by disasters and finding them new homes in the United States. "There was no question about his authority in that plane," Holoman said. A memorial will be held in Rooy's honor soon at New Smyrna Beach Municipal Airport but no date has been set, Dr. Arlen Stauffer, chairman of the Balloon & Sky Fest, said Wednesday. Stauffer said more tributes are planned for Rooy at this year's Balloon & Sky Fest, which will be April 5-7 at the airport.