ORCAS ISLAND, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – A new report into the death of Apollo 8 astronaut William “Bill” Anders reveals he was doing a flyby near a friend’s house when his plane crashed off the San Juan Islands.
The National Transportation Safety Board released the preliminary report on Tuesday, July 2, that investigated Anders’ crash near Orcas Island on June 7. His son, Greg Anders, says Bill left the Heritage Flight Museum that morning to perform an “Orcas Run,” which describes a flight around the San Juan Islands while passing over his previous home on Orcas.
A friend later received a text from Bill telling her that he planned to do a flyby near her house on the western shore of Orcas. The friend says Anders’ flybys were not unusual, but he never performed any kind of tricks while in the air.
Anders made his first flyby past his friend’s house about 40 minutes after he took off, but soon started to drop straight down in almost a vertical dive. By the time it recovered and its wings were level, the plane had hit the water with its right wingtip and spun across the surface.
The body of the 90-year-old Anders was recovered later that afternoon.
There’s still no information on what led to the plane’s sudden plummet. The friend and a person who took a video of the crash were the only two witnesses to come forward ahead of the NTSB’s early report.
