Authorities: Havasu pilot disoriented in plane crash
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PHOENIX -- Federal investigators said a Lake Havasu City firefighter who was flying home from an Arizona Cardinals game last year crashed his plane because he became disoriented on a dark, cloudy night.
The National Transportation Safety Board said the crash that killed Capt. Don Mesisca, 53, his wife Rosie, 52, and their son Brett, 20, happened after Mesisca kept flying into an approaching storm that blacked out the moon and other references.
The trio were reported missing after Mesisca didn't show up for work days after the Nov. 6, 2011 flight. The wreckage of the Cessna 182 was discovered near Alamo Lake.
The NTSB report released last week shows Mesisca had flown the route four times but never into storm-darkened skies.
