Preliminary NLV plane crash report expected this week

Aviation officials on Saturday had no new details to release about Friday morning's deadly crash of an experimental airplane in North Las Vegas.

The next update in information could come as early as this week, when the National Transportation Safety Board releases a preliminary report into the crash, according to an investigator with the agency. Three people were killed in the accident.

Officials will be looking into whether the homemade Velocity 173 RG had only five hours of flight time, which is less than the 40 hours the Federal Aviation Administration requires before such aircraft are allowed to fly over populated areas.

The rear-propeller plane took off from the North Las Vegas airport about 6:30 a.m. Friday and quickly radioed the control tower that the plane was going down.

It crashed into the home of an elderly couple near Lake Mead Boulevard and Simmons Street, killing Jack and Lucy Costa. The retired couple were New York natives who had lived in Southern Nevada for 10 years, family members said.

The pilot's name has yet to be released by officials. A spokesman for the FAA said the pilot had more than 40 hours of experience as a pilot, flight instructor and mechanic.