Girlfriend Of Pilot: ‘I Always Felt Safe’

Keturah Ponce, 25, knew doomed pilot Endrew Allen, 34, for about six years. And in all that time, his girlfriend recalled, he simply loved to fly.
“He was really, really into it,” she told The Queens Courier on the Tuesday after the tragedy. “It made him happy.”
She remembered how when he went to Florida for his pilot training four years ago, he would call her and tell her, “I learned this today” or “I landed the plane today.”
Allen was a certified flight instructor at Linden Airport in New Jersey who gave sightseeing tours in Cessna aircrafts. But on a sunny afternoon on May 21, Allen’s plane crashed into Coney Island, killing him and all three passengers aboard instantly.
But according to Ponce, Allen had a history of safety in the cockpit.
“I was never on a big plane, but I flew a few times with him [Allen], and I always felt safe,” she said.
The cause of the crash is still unknown, although witnesses and officials say the single engine plane seemingly had engine trouble. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is currently conducting an investigation.
“We had two investigators at the scene working with the NYPD and FAA [Federal Aviation Administration],” said Paul Schlamm, a spokesperson for the NTSB. “They examined the wreckage and spoke with witnesses. Now it [the wreckage] has been secured and they are looking into the particular airplane — its history and maintenance records. We are also looking at the pilot training, radar data from the FAA, even weather conditions.”
According to flying experts, the low altitude of sightseeing planes (they are required to fly at 500 feet or below) leaves little time and less room for pilots to rectify problems.
And although an official report will not be released for approximately six months, many — including eyewitnesses — are already calling Allen a hero for veering the ill-fated aircraft away from the amusement park and its revelers.
In the meantime, Ponce is trying to deal with her grief.
“I have my good moments, but then I think about the little things that we’ll never be able to do again — those make it harder to deal with the pain.”
toni@queenscourier.com