DARTMOUTH, Mass. — The NTSB on Tuesday released its preliminary report regarding the deadly plane crash that shut down I-195 in Dartmouth last month and killed a husband and wife from Rhode Island.
The preliminary report says the pilot filed a flight plan and had just taken off for Wisconsin.
At the time, southern Massachusetts was in the middle of our first nor’easter of the season.
The report does not list a possible cause for the crash... And does not blame the weather. It does say the pilot radioed New Bedford Airport moments after taking off, asking to return.
Thomas Perkins was cleared for landing and said he “should be okay” to make the descent back to the airport.
About a minute later, air traffic controllers received a low altitude alert.
They confirmed the altitude with the pilot.
Moments later, Perkins was heard making some sort of shout or exclamation before contact was lost.
Thomas Perkins, 68, and his wife, 66-year-old Agatha Perkins, both of Middletown, Rhode Island, were found in the fuselage of the aircraft, which came to rest in the grassy median, the DA’s office said. They were pronounced dead at the scene.
The third victim, a woman who was driving on the highway in a silver Hyundai Sonata, was rushed to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Both sides of I-195 were closed at Exit 19 for several hours after the crash.
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