HERMANTOWN, MINN. – The pilot of a single-engine plane that crashed into a house in Hermantown in 2022 — killing the three people on board but not the homeowners — had expressed before the flight that he was “not confident about his instrument flying abilities,” according to the final report from the NTSB.
The plane, flown by Tyler Fretland, 32, of Burnsville left Duluth International Airport en route to South St. Paul late on Oct. 1, 2022, following a wedding. Four minutes later, the plane crashed into electrical wires, then the two-story brick home on Arrowhead Road. Jason and Crystal Hoffman, who were asleep at the time of impact, escaped with just scrapes, but the high school sweethearts’ dream home was destroyed.
It’s likely that Fretland experienced “spatial disorientation” — an aviation term referring to an inability to sense positioning in context to the earth, according a report issued by the National Transportation Safety Board. There was no evidence of mechanical failure before the crash.
The probable cause: “The pilot’s loss of airplane control due to spatial disorientation during initial climb in dark night and low instrument meteorological conditions, which resulted in a descent into terrain,” according to the report. “Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s fatigue due to a long day of flying and personal activities.”
Passengers Alyssa Schmidt, 32, of St. Paul, and Matthew Schmidt, 31, of Burnsville, who were siblings, died alongside Fretland in the crash. Alyssa Schmidt was a second-grade teacher at Echo Park Elementary School of Leadership, Engineering and Technology in Burnsville. She was remembered as a bubbly, free spirit.
Matthew Schmidt was also part of the flying community, according to his obituary, which said he had “discovered what made him feel alive.”
Fretland had been interested in flying since he was a kid and dreamed of working for Delta Air Lines. He had a commercial pilot certificate and flight instructor certificate with 645.9 hours of flight experience.
It was a “night instrument flight rules” trip, meaning the pilot was dependent on the instruments in the cockpit rather than external visual cues. The clouds were low to the ground, visibility was reduced and it was misting lightly. The pilot ascended to a height where ground lights would have disappeared, according to the report.