Miami

NTSB Releases Preliminary Report on Miami-Dade Plane Crash

The National Transportation Safety Board has released their preliminary report into a plane crash that killed four people in Southwest Miami-Dade last Wednesday.

According to the narrative, "maintenance records revealed that the left engine propeller had been due for overhaul."

The propeller was removed and replaced with an overhauled propeller prior to last week's fatal flight -- the first since it was installed, the report said.

The pilot reported an "engine failure" to air traffic control prior to the crash and was attempting to return to the airport when the plane struck a utility pole and crashed about two miles west of the runway, the report indicates.

In a news conference last Thursday, the day after the small twin-engine plane crashed near the intersection of Krome Avenue and SW 144th Street, NTSB investigator Robert Gretz said the full investigation could take six months or longer.

The Beechcraft 1900 had taken off from the Miami Executive Airport last Wednesday and was headed for Providenciales International Airport in the Turks and Caicos Islands when it crashed around 2:30 p.m., the Federal Aviation Administration said.

A friend of the family told NBC 6 that the pilot of the flight was Captain Raul Chirivella, 52. Also on the plane was copilot Roberto Cavaniel along with Juan Carlos Betancourt. All three were from Venezuela.

A fourth person has not been identified.

The findings of the preliminary report can be found here.

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