Investigators: Pilot error was cause of 2021 plane crash that killed 4 in Michigan

BEAVER ISLAND, Mich. (AP) — A pilot’s error during landing caused a 2021 plane crash that killed four people on a Michigan island, federal investigators concluded.

The National Transportation Safety Board, which investigated the Nov. 13, 2021 crash on Beaver Island, said in a report released Thursday that the pilot lost control during landing and crashed 300 feet (91 meters) from the airport’s runway.

While approaching the airport, the plane was observed flying slowly and “‘wallowing’ as if nobody was flying,” the report said. The pilot exceeded the “airplane’s critical angle of attack during final approach, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall and loss of control at an altitude too low to recover,” according to the NTSB report.

The pilot and three others were killed in the crash; a young girl survived.

The pilot was flying for Island Airways, which takes travelers between Beaver Island in northern Lake Michigan and Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula.