Nguyen
Photo provided
By Noah Crenshaw | Daily Journal
For The Republic
GREENWOOD — A preliminary report into a fatal July plane crash in Greenwood has been released.
Anh-Thu Nguyen, 44, died after her small plane crashed the morning of July 30 behind the Circle K at 1183 E. Main St. The aircraft, a Lancair IV-P manufactured in 2005, had landed in the grassy area between the gas station and a drainage pond. The Miami, Florida, woman was the sole occupant of the plane, and no one on the ground was injured in the crash.
Nguyen, who was also a flight instructor, was attempting to circumnavigate the globe at the time of her death and become the first Vietnamese woman to do so. She was posting updates on her journey online.
In a Lancair 4P N49BX, she flew into Greenwood on July 27, following the first leg of her journey that began in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Nguyen died as she was setting off on the second leg of her journey to circumnavigate the globe. She was set to fly from Greenwood to Pennsylvania on July 30, she said in a Facebook Reel before taking off for her flight.
A report into the crash compiled by the National Transportation Safety Board was filed earlier this week, which notes that the information inside is preliminary and that the crash is under investigation. Federal investigators were able to obtain data from two private systems, one on the plane and one connected to it, that provided a picture of the chain of events that led up to the crash.
Nguyen took off from Runway 19 at the Indy South Greenwood Airport at 10:45 a.m. July 30, with a destination of the Quakertown, Pennsylvania, airport, located about 45 minutes north of Philadelphia.
After takeoff, the airplane began a climbing left turn. This turn continued for about 30 seconds, when the turn radius decreased while continuing to the left. The data then showed a rapid descent to the right, the preliminary NTSB report says. The plane then crashed behind the Circle K gas station on Main Street, about 3 miles south of the Greenwood airport.
The total duration of the flight from the beginning of the takeoff roll was about 1 minute and 30 seconds, according to the report. The report also notes that “all engine readings were steady from power application until the end of recorded data.”
The NTSB website lists the investigation as “working,” and more information will likely be released when the investigation concludes.
Nguyen was a 2015 graduate of Purdue University and was an instructor at Dragon Flight Training Academy at North Perry Airport in Pembroke Pines, Florida. She was also the founder of Asian Women in Aerospace and Aviation Inc., or AWAA, a nonprofit organization that provides scholarships, mentorship and opportunities for Asian women pursuing careers as pilots.
In both 2017 and 2023, she was named a distinguished flight instructor by Aircraft Owners Pilots Association in the years 2017 and 2023. With more than 5,000 hours of flight experience, she worked half-time as a Boeing 757 and 767 pilot, while also working as a flight instructor, according to Dragon Flight Academy’s website.
She worked more than six years to begin the journey around the world, she said in a Facebook reel.
