The National Transportation Safety Board released Tuesday its preliminary report on last month’s plane crash in urban Honolulu.
On June 30, at around 1:20 p.m., the report says a Piper PA-28-140 with the tail number N4244T took off from Daniel K. Inouye International Airport.
Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed.
The report says shortly after takeoff from runway 04L, the pilot reported that the engine lost power while the plane was roughly 300 feet above ground level.
He made an emergency landing at the nearest clear area, which was a river bed.
The airplane hit the ground, came to rest under a highway bridge, and caught fire with the pilot and his two passengers still inside.
As KHON2 previously reported, Good Samaritans rushed to their aid, and the men, all in their 20s, were hospitalized in serious condition.
The NTSB says the pilot was operating the plane under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91.Click here to view the full report.