The plane crash that killed a Vancouver teen and Camas flight instructor last week happened when the plane hit a tree and nose-dived into a field, according to a preliminary investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Todd Norrish, 47, and 17-year-old student pilot Jimmy Kravets died when the small Cessna aircraft they were flying went down the evening of March 14, according to the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office.
The NTSB report says the plane hit a tall conifer tree around 5:30 p.m. about three miles northwest of Goble, Ore. It had taken off from Pearson Field in Vancouver about an hour earlier.
There were no known witnesses to the crash, and the search didn’t start until the flight was reported overdue, the report said. Law enforcement officials following a “ping” from a cellphone found the missing plane in a “steep nose-down attitude in a level grassy field,” the report said. A wing was found about 200 yards north, near where the plane presumably hit the tree.
The airplane was taken to AvTec Services in Auburn for further investigation.
