Texas Crash Victim's Last Words: 'I'm Not a Pilot'

His 2013 death was ruled an accident this week
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 7, 2015 4:34 PM CST
Texas Crash Victim's Last Words: 'I'm Not a Pilot'
The death of a British tourist while flying a P-51 Mustang, like the one seen here, in 2013 in Texas was ruled accidental this week.   (AP Photo/The Colorado Springs Gazette, Michael Ciaglo)

"I'm not a pilot." Those were the last words of a vacationing Englishman moments before he crashed a WWII-era P-51 Mustang into the sea outside Galveston, Texas, in 2013, the Telegraph reports. John Busby was vacationing with his wife for their 41st wedding anniversary when he paid the Lone Star Flight Museum for a ride in the vintage airplane. The results of the investigation into the crash that ensued were released this week.

About 20 minutes into the flight, the on-board video recording shows pilot Keith Hibbert ask Busby, 66, if he wants to try flying the plane, the Telegraph reports. Hibbert responds: “Yes I do, if you guide me through it. I’m not a pilot.” Seconds later a fisherman saw the Mustang smash into the ocean, killing both men. "It was probably due to the pilot's loss of situational awareness while he was instructing his passenger," the coroner states. The death of both men was ruled "accidental." (More plane crash stories.)

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