The National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report on the fatal crash of a single-engine plane January 30th in Fall River County says neither the pilot nor the plane were registered, but doesn’t identify the pilot – who was killed.
A preliminary report lists information collected in the early stages of a crash investigation and does not identify a probable cause. Findings of cause are contained in final reports, which normally take 6-to-18 months to complete.
The NTSB preliminary report into the crash near Oral says the pilot, who did not have an FAA pilot’s certificate, was building the two-seat plane from a kit and had not yet registered it with the FAA.
The pilot asked a friend with a private airstrip near Oral if he could use it to taxi the plane. The friend gave his permission, but told investigators he saw the plane in the air a short time later.
He texted the friend about 20 minutes after that with no response and took off in his own plane to search. He told investigators he spotted the crash site only about 2 miles away from his airstrip.
     The report describes the plane as substantially damaged. The left wing had come off and the right wing was crushed, as was the forward fuselage, and the engine was displaced.