PATTERSON, La. (KLFY) -- The National Transportation Safety Board has released a preliminary report of its investigation into the crash of a plane in Patterson Oct. 12 in which two people died.
Dean Lee Felterman, 69, of Patterson and Mufid Jabour, 48, of Denham Springs were killed in the crash shortly after taking off from Harry P. Williams Memorial Airport in Patterson. According to Felterman’s family, the purpose of the flight was to take him to Houston for a medical appointment. Jabour was the owner and pilot of the plane.
According to the NTSB report, investigators were aided by an unidentified woman who was driving and saw the crash from her car.
"A witness, who was driving in her vehicle near an intersection just to the west of PTN (the airport), observed the airplane shortly after it departed from runway 24," the NTSB report said. "She observed the airplane was 'tilted to the left,' it turned on its side, and then entered a nosedive."
The plane exploded on impact and burst into flames in a sugarcane field. The report noted that the plane took on 64.57 gallons of fuel before taking off. According to the witness, no smoke or flames were visible before impact.
"Once the passenger boarded, the pilot then got out of the airplane and walked over to the left side of the airplane where he appeared to look at the something on the airplane," the report said. "The pilot then boarded then airplane and taxied to runway 24 for departure. The pilot announced on the airport common traffic advisory frequency that the airplane was departing runway 24, and no further radio transmissions were heard from the airplane."
While the preliminary report did not identify the cause of the crash, it did note that five valve springs on the right-hand engine were fractured, and the left engine showed no pre-impact mechanical malfunctions or failures.
The report said the plane had an annual inspection performed on April 1, according to maintenance records, but a later inspection revealed "discrepancies."
"During a review of the maintenance records, a customer invoice dated July 20, 2023, was
identified, and was noted to include multiple maintenance discrepancies with the airplane that
were not resolved within that work order," the report said. "One of the unresolved discrepancies included, 'the right-hand tachometer is not indicating.'"
The investigation is ongoing, but the NTSB is calling the crash an accident.
