WASHINGTON (KLFY) -- The National Transportation Safety Board has released its preliminary report in the plane crash in Lafayette that took the life of a local businessman Sept. 12.
Greg Manuel, 73, the owner of Manuel Companies in Lafayette, died in the crash, in which he was the pilot and only passenger.
The airplane had just departed from runway 4R at the Lafayette Regional Airport at 11:37 a.m. Sept. 12 when it crashed into Oakbourne Country Club, which is adjacent to the airport, the report concluded.
"Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) data showed that the airplane lifted off the runway and achieved an altitude of about 200 ft above ground level (agl) by the time it reached the departure end of the runway," the report reads. "The airplane then made a slight
left turn followed by a right turn before the data ended."
The final recorded altitude was 25 feet above ground level and the last recorded location was about 450 feet from the crash site. The airplane hit the golf course about 2,000 feet and 15 degrees from the end of the runway, the report said.
The cause of the crash has not been released.
