INDEPENDENCE, Oregon — The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released new details in a preliminary report on Saturday about a deadly plane crash in mid-December. Three people, the pilot and two passengers, were killed when the plane crashed amidst heavy fog just outside Independence State Airport on Dec. 16.
NTSB said the flight instructor, who was not named in the report, had become concerned over fog around the airport in Independence and had told the pilot not to return before the plane crashed.
Officials previously identified the occupants of the plane as Mohammad Hussain Musawi and Mohammad Bashir Safdari, both 35, from Independence, and 29-year-old Ali Jan Ferdawsi of Salem. Musawi was the pilot, while Safdari and Ferdawsi were passengers.
The owner of the airplane said he allowed Musawi to use the airplane to gain his private pilot's certificate, his instrument rating and commercial certificate. According to the flight instructor, the pilot said he and a pilot-rated passenger, who would act as a safety pilot, would fly to the McMinnville Municipal Airport (MMV) to practice "instrument approaches [in VFR conditions]," the NTSB report said.
VRF conditions means the weather conditions are equal to or better than the minimum for flight, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Data recorded the plane departing the airport in Independence as it flew to MMV. NTSB said the airplane approached the runway, then maneuvered in an area about 12 miles southwest of the airport before maneuvering to the northeast of the airport and making a second runway approach, coming to a full stop.
The flight instructor had been monitoring the flight and grew concerned about the fog that had built up around Independence State Airport, the NTSB report said. He called Musawi who was at MMV and advised him not to return to the airport in Independence due to the low visibility of about 500 feet. However, Musawi said he had picked up a second pilot-rated passenger and would fly to the airport in Independence, then assess the conditions and decide to either land or divert to McNary Field Airport in Salem, or return to MMV.
Data recorded the last moments of the flight as the plane approached Independence State Airport and entered a descending 180-degree turn.
"During the turn, the airplane overshot the runway centerline to the east, corrected but overshot the centerline to the west," the NTSB report said.
The airplane came to a rest upside down on the edge of an open field adjacent to the airport property. The plane likely first hit an 80-foot utility pole, located about 60 feet southeast of the wreckage.
An examination of the airframe and engine showed there were "no mechanical malfunctions or failures," the NTSB report said.