COLOMBIA, SC (AP) – The pilot of a small plane killed earlier this month in an accident near a South Carolina airport told air traffic controllers that it lost its runway due to cloudy weather just before it crashed, investigators said federal.
Farhad Rostampour had just diverted his plane from the landing attempt when his wing hit a house about 800 meters from Columbia’s Jim Hamilton-LB Owens Airport, according to the preliminary report released Friday by the National Transportation Safety Edge.
Rostampour died in the accident when his plane broke down and caught fire on January 13, officials said.
Rostampour took off from Greenville Downtown airport in his Beechcraft BE-33 about 30 minutes before the accident, according to the report.
The fog reduced visibility around the airport to 400 meters at the time of the accident, according to data from the National Meteorological Service.
Witnesses said the plane’s engines looked normal before it crashed, the report said.
Preliminary NTSB reports include facts about an accident, but not a determination as to why a plane crashed.