ST. IGNACE, MI (AP)-- A new federal report says that flying conditions were poor and visibility low before a crash that killed an Amazon.com executive and his pilot on the way to Mackinac Island.
The National Transportation Safety Board reported Thursday on the December 3rd, 2011, crash of a single-engine charter plane crash. The accident killed 29-year-old pilot Joseph Pann, Jr. of St. Ignace and 52-year-old Thomas Phillips, who had homes in Kirkland, Washington and Mackinac Island.
The plane left St. Ignace for a 4.5-mile flight to the island. It crashed near Lake Huron in the Eastern Upper Peninsula.
Pann worked for Great Lakes Air. The Detroit News says another pilot told Pann that morning that bad weather had canceled the flight but later said conditions had improved enough to attempt it.
