NTSB final report confirms pilot who crashed plane that killed Kentlake swim coach was drunk

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) confirmed that “the pilot’s physical impairment due to alcohol” caused a crash last year near Mount Si in North Bend that killed all three people on board, including Kentlake High School swim coach Seth Dawson.

“The NTSB determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be the pilot’s physical impairment due to alcohol, which adversely affected his ability to operate the airplane and to maintain clearance from mountainous terrain while operating in dark night conditions,” according to the probable cause report issued Wednesday.

Pilot Rob Hill, 30, swim coach at Federal Way’s Decatur High School, had a blood alcohol level of 0.15 percent, according to the report. The Code of Federal Regulations prescribed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) prohibits civil aircraft pilots from flying if their blood alcohol level is 0.04.

The NTSB issued a factual report last month that said Hill was intoxicated. The board issued a preliminary report a few days after the accident. The probable cause is the final report.

“A post-accident examination of the airframe and engine revealed no evidence of a mechanical malfunction or failure that would have precluded normal operation,” according to the report.

Elizabeth Redling, 29, of Federal Way, also was killed in the Feb. 15, 2012 accident. The three were on a “personal sightseeing flight,” according to the report. The Cessna 172S crashed at about 1:54 a.m. after leaving the Renton Municipal Airport at about 1:35 a.m.

The three went to a Seattle Thunderbirds hockey game earlier in the night at the ShoWare Center in Kent and then out to dinner, according to the report.

“Several witnesses reported observing the airplane’s lights at a low altitude and hearing the airplane’s engine running before the sound of impact,” the report said.

Hill had a commercial pilot certificate and a flight instructor certificate. He had accumulated 991 hours of flight time.

Dawson, 31, was in his second season of coaching the Kentlake boys swim and dive team. He coached the Kentlake girls team in the fall of 2011. Hill had been the Decatur swim coach for five years.

According to the report, Christiansen Aviation, Inc., of Wilmington, Del., the plane’s registered owner, leased the plane to AcuWings, a Renton flight school.

The flight originated from Renton Municipal Airport, but no flight plan was filed. A NTSB crash investigator said there is no law that requires a flight plan for a sightseeing personal flight.

Dawson grew up in Vancouver, Wash., where he was a state championship swimmer at Hudson’s Bay High before competing on scholarship at California State Bakersfield.

In 2009, Dawson was coaching boys and girls high school swim in Corbett, Ore., but decided he wanted to move back to Washington. He took a position with Valley Aquatics, a club team that uses pools in Federal Way, Auburn and Puyallup. Hill also coached at the club.