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NTSB releases preliminary report in Vigo Co. plane crash

VIGO COUNTY, Ind. (WTHI) – The National Transportation Safety Board has released the preliminary report on the Aug. 25 plane crash on the north side of Vigo County that killed one.

The accident happened around 7 p.m. on Aug. 25 near Sky King Airport when the 1980 Cessna 172N crashed into a home behind Fox Grocery and Meat Market.

The preliminary report does not give a cause for the accident, but it does walk through the minutes before the crash happened.

Officials report the plane took off around 6:16 p.m. and then was damaged when it collided with trees and then the house while it was returning to the runway at Sky King Airport.

A witness, who was a flight instructor providing ground instruction at the airport, reported that the accident airplane approached from the north and entered the traffic pattern for runway 26 (3,557 feet by 50 feet, asphalt). He then observed the airplane touchdown between the half-moon runway turnoff and the runway 18/36 intersection. After landing, the airplane was observed to back-taxi on runway 26 before it departed again. The witness described the next landing approach as being “high and fast” and that a go-around was performed before the airplane crossed over the displaced threshold. The witness did not observe the subsequent landing approach or the crash.

The NTSB report also stated a second witness reported hearing the airplane pass over his house and that it was much louder than normal. That is when the witness saw the airplane traveling at a ‘low altitude and slow speed before he heard it collide with a tree.’ After the plane hit the tree the witness stated he heard ‘increase engine power before it crashed into the house.’

Both occupants of the plane had to be removed by crews on the scene. Terre Haute Regional Hospital reported both occupants in the plane were two members of the Terre Haute Regional Hospital medical staff – Pathologist Dr. Patrick O’Neill and Anesthesiologist Dr. John Trump.