Plane may have stalled before crash that killed Las Vegas man, report says

The National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report detailing the moments before a plane crash last month in Williams, Arizona, that killed three people, including one Las Vegas man.

Dakota Almazan, of Las Vegas, died after boarding Piper fixed-wing, single-engine plane on Oct. 17 at H.A. Clark Memorial Airport which crashed shortly after takeoff.

The Associated Press reported that Almazan was a passenger on the plane. The other two crash victims were the plane’s pilot, 31-year-old Hyemoon Kim, and Christopher Evans, a 44-year-old flight instructor, according to AP and the Williams Police Department.

The NTSB report states that witness said they saw the plane take off from an airport runway and climb about 200 feet above the ground. After continuing in the air for a quarter of a mile, the witness said the plane started a slight left turn, and then appeared to “slow, lose altitude, and stall.”

The plane then hit the ground in an open field that was “flat, rocky, and heavily populated with sage brush,” NTSB said. The plane eventually stopped moving about 90 feet from its first point of ground impact.

The report stated that there was no aircraft fire or explosion.

The plane was recovered after the crash and is undergoing further examination, NTSB said.

Contact Taylor Lane at tlane@reviewjournal.com.