PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — The National Transportation Safety Board released its final report on a plane crash in northern Palm Beach County that injured seven people two years ago.
A Cessna 414 crashed into a small pond while taking off from North Palm Beach County General Aviation Airport on Oct. 8, 2020.
No one was killed in the crash, but seven people suffered serious injuries when the airplane overran the runway, landing in a marshy terrain and becoming partially submerged in water.
Investigators found there was no evidence that the airplane or the flight controls had any mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have caused the wreck.
Read the full report below:
The NTSB said that the pilot did not perform an adequate preflight inspection, failing to detect a flight control abnormality.
"The control anomaly experienced by the pilots may have been a result of the control lock remaining inadvertently installed and overlooked by both pilots prior to the takeoff," the report said.
The pilot then failed to expediently abort a takeoff. This resulted in the co-pilot performing a delayed, aborted takeoff and overrunning the runway.
The co-pilot's decision to take control of the plane and abort the takeoff "likely mitigated the potential for more severe injury to the occupants and damage to the airplane," the report said.
All of the people aboard the plane were from Columbus, Indiana.
