Gwen Shamblin's husband was to blame for private jet crash that killed her and ... trends now
Diet guru turned cult leader Gwen Shamblin died in a private jet crash with six others when her Tarzan star husband became disorientated while piloting, the NTSB has ruled.
The revelation comes nearly two years after Lara's private jet - a Cessna C501 aircraft - plunged into Percy Priest Lake in Tennessee minutes after taking off on March 29, 2021 around 11am, according to a final report released Wednesday by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Shamblin's spouse Joe Lara was piloting the plane at the time, and National Transportation Safety Board believes he mistakenly thought he was pitching the jet upwards, when it was actually descending towards the ground.
The plane that had departed Smyrna Rutherford County Airport en route to Palm Beach International Airport.
Shamblin and her spouse, Joe Lara, who played Tarzan in the 1990s TV series 'Tarzan: The Epic Adventures,' perished along with Shamblin's son-in-law Brandon Hannah, and church leaders David and Jennifer Martin, and Jessica and Jonathan Walters on March 29, 2021.
Flight track data found that the plane 'made a series of heading changes, along with several climbs and descents, before it entered a steep, descending left turn,' the crash report cited.
Shamblin and her spouse, Joe Lara, who played Tarzan in the 1990s TV series 'Tarzan: The Epic Adventures,' perished along with five other passengers
Gwen Shamblin Lara founded the Remnant Fellowship Church in Brentwood in 1999 and was the author of the faith-based weight loss book, The Weigh Down Diet, a diet based in Christian practices
Shamblin Lara's daughter Elizabeth Hannah shared the news of the horrific crash in a text sent out on 4:24pm March 29, 2021. Her husband was also on the doomed flight
The NTSB performance study revealed that the maneuvering of the aircraft was consistent with a type of spatial disorientation- called somatogravic illusion, which likely caused the pilot to perceive that the airplane was pitching up even though it was actually in a continuous descent.
It occurs during poor visibility, when it becomes impossible for a pilot to see the horizon in front of them, and when they must rely on the plane's instruments to remain in the air safely.
Local flight instructor, William Lardent, who had flown with Lara several times in the same plane that crashed, said described Lara as a 'safe pilot but had trouble with multitasking and with situational awareness.'
He told investigators that Lara was rated to fly with instruments only and struggled when forced to rely on instruments in low visibility and while using the plane´s autopilot.
'Mr. Lara could not visualize in his mind where the airplane was in time/space unless he saw it on his iPad,' according to an NTSB account of the interview.
The interview also revealed Lara's desire to fly to bigger cities like New York and Las Vegas, but the flight instructor told him he was not ready because those areas were congested.
The flight instructor told Lara, as per investigators he `had to be on your game´ to operate in those fast-moving environments.'
Witnesses to the crash included a fisherman who 'heard what he thought was a low flying military jet before he saw the airplane impact the lake in a `straight down´ attitude with the nose of the airplane impacting the water first,' according to the report.
Post-accident examination of the wreckage revealed no obvious mechanical malfunctions with the aircraft, and investigators believe it is unlikely that any medical condition of the pilot or co-pilot were a factor in the crash.
Church leaders David and Jennifer Martin were aboard the flight and died
