Who knew that steering an aircraft and taking "selfies" are a deadly mix?

The pilot of a two-seater Cessna-150 that crashed near Denver in May last year found out too late that taking self-photographs, popularly known as "selfies," could be a deadly distraction, federal crash investigators said in a recent report.

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The pilot - Amrital Singh, 29 - could have suffered from "spatial disorientation" that led to a loss of control due to mobile phone use during the flight, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said in its findings submitted on Friday.

On May 31 last year, the pilot took off aboard the 55-year-old Cessna plane at past midnight from Front Range Airport in Adams County. The pilot's family reported the jet missing at past 3 in the morning. The remains of the crash were found at around half past 7 AM.

The passenger killed in the crash was identified as a musician who was in town for an Adams City High School concert.

The NTSB said footage from a GoPro video camera that was found near the plane's wreckage showed a couple of flights in which the pilot and his passengers were taking "selfies" with their mobiles.

In one clip, the pilot was shown using a night flash to take selfies as the plane initially ascended, the NTSB reported. The fatal crash itself was not recorded on the GoPro.

The NTSB said a close look at the plane's remains did not show anything wrong with the aircraft before the crash. Investigators suggested that the crash was probably due to an aerodynamic stall and the jet then spun of out control before it hit land.

The safety board said the distribution of the plane wreckage was consistent with a high-speed impact. It crashed in open land and then stopped in a tangled ball.

The airplane hit a field and bounced once before it halted in an upright position, the NTSB reported. 

TagsDenver jet crash, Selfies, Amrital Singh