The NTSB has released its preliminary report on a deadly mid-air collision at Minden-Tahoe Airport last month.Â
The Cessna T206H and Globe GC-1B collided mid-air just before 10 a.m. on September 16th.
The NTSB says the Cessna was practicing maneuvers and never saw the Globe plane before they collided. The Globe crashed and caught on fire in a field off Highway 395 and Johnson Lane, killing the pilot, identified as 74-year old Donald Bartholomew.
The Cessna was damaged but an instructor who was sitting next to the pilot was able to land it safely.
You can read the full preliminary report below -Â
Update (9/27 2:56 p.m.):
Authorities have identified the man who died in the plane crash as 74-year old Donald Bartholomew.
The ID was made by comparing DNA samples obtained from the crash and from Bartholomew's home.
ORIGINAL STORY:
Two planes collided in mid-air at the Minden-Tahoe Airport Monday morning, leaving one dead.
Just before 10 a.m., Douglas County Sheriff's Office received several 911 calls about the airplane crash.
Witnesses told Douglas County Sheriff's Office that two planes collided in the air.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, they were a Cessna T206H and a Globe GC-1B.
Douglas County says the Globe plane crashed in a field off Highway 395 and Johnson Lane.Â
Deputies and firefighters found the plane on fire.
The sole person in that plane died, and has not yet been identified.
Douglas County says the Cessna did land safely at the Minden-Tahoe Airport.
According to Sheriff Dan Coverley, the two people in that plane are fine, and says that the plane did suffer damage towards the front end and the propeller.
The Cessna plane is from the Civil Air Patrol; volunteers who help the air force.
This is now the second deadly crash in about a month near this airport.
Sheriff Coverley says luckily, no one else was hurt.
"The impact in the air was probably over the highway, but luckily nothing landed on the highway and no one else is injured or involved in anything," he said.
Douglas County Search and Rescue was out today, surveying the field for debris so they could account for all the damage.
At one point, only one runway was open as investigators and first responders were on scene.
The investigation is now being led by the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board.
They will be working to determine what caused the crash.
