A small plane piloted by a man with his son onboard lost power to its engine before a crash that killed the father last month, according to an investigation report by the National Transportation Safety Board released Monday.
Fifty-four-year-old John Hall, of Lee, New Hampshire, took off from Brunswick Executive Airport in a Diamond DA20 and reported plans to fly over points of interest then land at Knox County Regional Airport in Rockland, according to the NTSB report.
Twenty minutes after departure, Hall saw that the engine oil pressure was low and diverted his route to Rockland. He and his 21-year-old son Tyler Hall felt several “buffets” from the engine, smelled smoke in the cockpit, then lost all engine power, the report states.
John Hall turned the plane to the right and tried to land on a state park road in Bristol on the Pemaquid Peninsula, about 24 miles southwest of Rockland.
During the emergency landing, the plane went across a grassy area, hit a sign, a wooden structure at a horseshoe pit, two trees and rocks on the shoreline before coming to rest upside down in about 4 feet of water in Pemaquid Harbor, according to the report.
John Hall died at the scene. Tyler Hall was taken to a hospital with injuries that the sheriff’s office said were not considered life-threatening.
Federal records show the fixed-wing, single-engine aircraft was registered to John Hall. He had received certification for the plane, which had been in use since 1996, just eight days before the crash.
The investigation is ongoing, the NTSB said.
