Female pilot's eerie livestream before fatal crash during SECOND LEG of around-the-world solo flight
Anh-Thu Nguyen, 44, of Washington, set out on Monday to become the first Vietnamese-American woman to complete the feat in a single-engine airplane, following six years of meticulous preparation, the Indianapolis Star reported.
But on Wednesday, her 2005 Lancair IV-P suddenly spiraled out of the sky, plummeting to the ground and crashing behind a gas station in Greenwood.
Nguyen shared a haunting video to Facebook just minutes before the crash claimed her life, expressing her optimism about her mission.
'I'm super excited today. I just completed the first leg of my solo flight around the world,' the chief instructor said in the video.
'This is more than just a flight. It's a mission to inspire the next generation of Asian female pilots and aerospace engineers and STEM professionals.
'Let's keep flying forward together. Thank you.'
The daring adventure - which planned to cover 25 countries, according to a GoFundMe page - began on July 27, when Nguyen flew from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, to Indiana.
Three days later she officially took off from Indy South Greenwood Airport at around 10.45am, embarking on a short flight to Pennsylvania.
But within minutes, her plane spiraled out of control and crashed onto a hill behind the Circle K gas station on Greenwood's Main Street.
Frank Williams, a witness to the tragedy, revealed that the crash was eerily silent, even as the plane dove out of the sky.
'There was no explosion, and there was no fire,' Williams told the Indianapolis Star.
'I pulled right up, and I could smell fuel. As I got close to the plane, I could tell there wasn't a survivor,' he added.
First responders arrived to find the plane's wreckage scattered across a grassy area, resting between a drainage pond and the gas station just feet away, according to the Daily Journal.
'This could have been a lot worse going into the gas station,' Tyler Swardson, a Greenwood Fire PIO, told the outlet.
Although no one on the ground was injured, Nguyen was tragically pronounced dead at the scene.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have since launched an investigation to determine the cause of the disaster.
'With any sort of accident, there are all sorts of things that can go into it to make it scary for anybody,' Swardson told the Daily Journal.
'Unfortunately, there is no information about how the crash occurred or what factors led into that,' he added.
Nguyen's sudden death sent shockwaves through the hundreds of followers who had eagerly tracked her journey.
Dozens of comments beneath her final video overflowed with messages of sympathy and disbelief.
After moving to the US from Vietnam at age 12, Nguyen quickly developed a passion for aviation, eventually taking to the skies herself at just 16-years-old, according to the GoFundMe page.
She pursued an impressive academic path in the years that followed, earning a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and a Master's in Aeronautics and Astronautics Engineering from Purdue University.
She went on to receive her doctoral degree in aeronautics and astronautics engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology.
In 2018, with over 5,000 flight hours to her name, she founded the Asian Women in Aerospace and Aviation Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to empowering Asian women in the field of aviation.
'Anh-Thu was an inspiring pilot, instructor, and advocate for girls and women in aerospace, engineering, and aviation,' the organization shared in a heartfelt tribute.
'She lived with boldness, curiosity, and drive. She came from humble beginnings in Vietnam to becoming a beacon of hope to many.'
Most recently, Nguyen was employed as the chief flight instructor at Dragon Flight Training Academy in Pembroke Pines, Florida.
Any remaining funds from her nonprofit were intended to support scholarships and mentorship programs for young girls pursuing careers in aviation and STEM.
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