PRELIMINARY REPORT: FUEL PUMP FAILURE CAUSED CRASH

A preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board reveals the pilot reported a fuel pump failure just before the plane he was flying crashed in Tuscaloosa County on Aug. 14, killing all six aboard.

The report, available online here, said the pilot reported one of his fuel pumps failed around 11:11 a.m. Sunday morning. The plane was flying from Kissimmee, Florida, to Oxford, Mississippi, and the pilot requested a diversion to the Tuscaloosa Regional Airport.

When the airplane was about 10 miles from the airport, the report said the pilot told air traffic control he’d lost the other fuel pump. The airplane crashed into trees about 1,650 feet away from the runway.

Federal Aviation Administration records show the pilot had accumulated 48.7 hours of flight time in the airplane since March. The plane, manufactured in 1984, had its most recent annual inspection on Nov. 13, 2015, and had accumulated 3,260.8 hours of time in service at that time.