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Report: Pilot’s actions to blame for 2013 crash in Indiana

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) – Federal officials say a pilot’s “inadequate response” to mechanical problems and his decision to allow an unqualified passenger to handle airplane controls caused a crash that killed a pilot and a former Oklahoma football player in Indiana three years ago.

Sixty-year-old Steve Davis, a former University of Oklahoma quarterback, and 58-year-old Wesley Caves, the pilot, died March 17, 2013, after a twin-engine business jet crashed into homes near an airport in South Bend, Indiana.

The National Transportation Safety Board released its final report on the crash Thursday. It stated that Caves failed to adhere to procedures when responding to the plane’s dual engine shutdown. The report also says that the engines’ inadvertent shutdown was the direct result of Davis’ manipulation of the plane controls.