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Both engines shut down before a small plane crashed on a highway in June, according to an NTSB report.

Both engines shut down before a small plane crashed on a highway in June, according to an NTSB report.

Both engines caught fire on a small commercial plane that crashed on a Texas highway in June, preventing pilots from reaching a nearby airport, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary investigation report released Friday. The pilots had looked for a field or other flat areas to land before the crash, but air

Both engines caught fire on a small commercial plane that crashed on a Texas highway in June, preventing pilots from reaching a nearby airport, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary investigation report released Friday.

The pilots had looked for a field or other flat areas to land before the crash, but air traffic controllers told them there were none nearby. The accident killed one person and left six injured.

According to the report, the flight crew noticed an “unusual vibration” early in the flight that they had not experienced before. The plane had departed the Mexican resort city of San Jose del Cabo for Austin, and it was determined they could proceed to their final destination after discussions with staff at NetJets, the company that operated the plane.

As the plane approached the US-Mexico border, the flight crew received a message indicating low fuel pressure, followed by more messages, and the crew declared an emergency.

The flight crew reported a generator failure and “multiple other failures” to Houston air traffic controllers, such as “low fuel,” and requested to divert to Laredo International Airport, according to the report. The plane was cleared, but while on final approach, the right engine “shut out,” followed by the left engine moments later.

Video footage showed “two instances of fire breaking out around the aircraft as it was on final approach,” the report states.

A pilot asked at the Laredo air control tower if there was a field to his right and an air traffic controller answered no. After the pilot asked again about the open area to his right, an air traffic controller responded: “It will just be the main road, and that’s it.”

The flight crew “maneuvered the plane to land” on the road about a mile (1.6 kilometers) southeast of the airport. When the plane landed, it “uprooted several light poles,” collided with a vehicle and ended up straddling the edge of an overpass with the main cabin exit door “facing upward.” Finally the main door of the cabin opened and five people escaped.

The intense crash in Laredo, near the border with Mexico, sent bystanders running from their cars to help police rescue passengers and crew from the burning plane. Video of the frantic scene showed someone trying to break the cockpit glass with a sledgehammer, while others used makeshift crowbars as they worked to open the plane’s door. Local officials said a firefighter entered the smoke-filled plane to remove one person still inside after the rest had escaped. The plane “sustained substantial damage” to its fuselage, both wings and tail, according to the NTSB report.

According to the Laredo Police Department, two pilots and three teenagers survived the crash and were released from the hospital. A dog on board suffered smoke inhalation and was also expected to survive, Jose Baeza, a police department investigator, said in June.

The crash killed Joshua Baer, ​​a leader in the Texas technology and startup sectors.

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This story has been updated to correct the name of the company that operated the plane. It’s NetJets, not NetsJet.

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