March 30, Ballston Spa, N.Y. / Cessna 172

At 14:24 EST, a Cessna 172P crashed after departure from Saratoga County Airport, killing the flight instructor and the student pilot. The airplane departed runway 23 and began its climb. Witnesses differed on whether the climb was unusually steep, with one saying the climb attitude was normal and another equating it to biplanes he had seen … during airshows. The three witnesses did agree that the aircraft seemed to suffer a power loss, then banked steeply left and descend in what would be consistent with a stall/spin. A post-crash fire made determining the aircrafts pre-crash mechanical condition difficult. Damage to the propeller indicates the engine was producing little power on impact. The instructor had less than 500 hours total time, and the student pilot had 12.1 hours logged and had not yet soloed.