Report: Pilot given low altitude alert, clipped trees before Dartmouth highway crash
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Federal investigators have released their preliminary report on the Dartmouth highway plane crash that killed both people on board on October 13.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, pilot Thomas Perkins told air traffic controllers he was coming back to New Bedford Regional Airport shortly after takeoff.
The controllers then gave Perkins a low altitude alert, but his response was not clear.
The plane then began clipping trees three miles from the airport and crashed onto I-195 in Dartmouth near the Reed Road exit at approximately 8:15 a.m.
The plane hit a car and came to a rest on the median in flames.
Both Thomas Perkins and his wife Agatha were killed in the crash.
The incident backed up traffic on the highway for hours as first responders tended to the scene.
The actual cause of the crash is still under investigation.
