/ WHAT WENT WRONG / An ill-fated flight I BY MACHTELD SMITH Flying into icing conditions / t's 3:58 p.m. local time, Monday, October 26, 2020, near Lubbock, Texas. A small airplane emerges below the clouds traveling low to the ground through the freezing mist. As the airplane nears a series of powerlines, it turns and pitches up aggressively-almost vertically as if intending to do a loop-then turns and pitches up again. Losing altitude rapidly, the airplane disappears from view before it crashes and comes to rest in a residential area where it is consumed by fire. The pilot-the sole occupant of the Cessna 210-is killed. ILLUSTRATION BY BRETT AFFRUNTI 80 AOPA PILOT / December 2024