The pilot in an Independence, Oregon, plane crash that killed all three men aboard this month was at fault for hitting power lines that led to the aircraft’s demise.
The crash happened at 4:54 p.m. Dec. 16, when a plane piloted by Mohammad Musawi collided with power lines and crashed near Independence State Airport.
The National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary investigative report on the crash released Friday that Musawi was at fault for the crash, which killed him and his two passengers.
Musawi, 35, and passengers Mohammad Safdari, 35, and Ali Ferdawsi, 29, were all were former Afghan air force pilots, according to The Associated Press, and were part of a pilot training program following their resettlement in the Salem, Oregon, area.
Musawi was permitted to use the single-engine Cessna plane by its owner as part of his efforts to get private and commercial piloting certificates, the NTSB said.
On Dec. 16, Musawi left Independence State Airport at around 3 p.m. with one of the passengers, who was meant to act as a safety pilot, heading for McMinnville (Oregon) Municipal Airport. The two landed there at 4:08 p.m.
The unnamed flight instructor, who monitored the first flight remotely, warned Musawi not to return to Independence State Airport due to low visibility from fog in the area, the NTSB said.
Despite that, Musawi took off from McMinnville at 4:38 p.m., having picked up the second passenger, with a plan to fly directly to Independence, check out the conditions and either land, return to McMinnville or divert to McNary Field in Salem.
In his final call to air traffic control at Independence, Musawi said the plane was approaching. During a left-hand turn on the descent, he overshot the runway going east, then overcorrected and overshot it going west.
The probable first point of contact, the agency said, was a power pole 60 feet southeast of the wreckage.
The plane crashed into a field adjacent to airport property and subsequently caught fire and burned.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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