SAN ANTONIO – The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released its preliminary report on the plane crash that killed three people on the North Side earlier this month.
The Piper PA24-250 airplane crashed into a parking lot in the 600 block of West Rhapsody Drive while trying to make an emergency landing at the San Antonio International Airport around 6:25 p.m. Dec. 1, the NTSB said.
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The pilot, a flight instructor and a passenger were killed in the crash. Austin businessman Robert Tyson Womble, 38, was believed to be in the pilot’s seat, and his company’s intern, 22-year-old Eric Naranjo, a UTSA student who was the passenger. Maureen Garrow, 71, was the last victim identified. She was the flight instructor.
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The plane was heading from Sugar Land Regional Aiport in Houston to Grier Airport in Boerne.
The NTSB said the pilot reported to San Antonio Approach Control that he was experiencing engine failure and needed to make an emergency landing.
He was cleared to land on runway 13R and was tracked by radar as he aligned to land.
“During the approach to landing, the airplane rapidly descended and impacted terrain,” the report states. “Several eyewitnesses reported seeing the airplane in a near 90° bank angle before spiraling to the ground. Video camera footage captured the airplane impacting terrain in a near vertical attitude.”
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All “major airplane components were located at the accident site” and were taken to a secure facility for further examination, the NTSB said.