Plane crash into Massachusetts home that killed all three family members on board was caused by engine defect, finds NTSB investigation
- Six-seater Beechcraft plane hit home in Plainville, 40 miles from Boston
- NTSB investigation found hole in engine's crankcase but cause unknown
- Pilot Dr Joseph Richard Kalister, of Knoxville, Tennessee, his wife Betty and their teenage daughter Nicole were all killed in the crash on Sunday
- Nicole scheduled to attend student orientation at Northeastern University
- Kalister told air traffic controller engine failing in moments before impact
- Aaron Rice, his wife, two sons and their pets escaped safely from home
There was internal damage to the engine of the small plane that crashed into a Massachusetts home and burned on Sunday, killing all three people on board, a federal safety investigator has revealed.
Investigators found a hole in the crankcase of the Beech A36's engine but have not yet determind the cause of the defect, National Transportation Safety Board investigator Doug Brazy said on Tuesday.
The pilot of the single-engine Beechcraft, Dr Joseph Richard Kalister, of Knoxville, Tennessee, had told air traffic control his engine was failing in the moments before the deadly crash in Plainville.
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The three people aboard the plane - Dr Joseph 'Rick' Kalister (second left), his wife Betty (left) and their college-aged daughter Nicole (right), pictured on Nicole's prom night, are dead. Nicole's sister Jackie is alive
A house in Plainville, Massachusetts (above), was hit by a six-seater passenger plane on Sunday afternoon
NTSB investigator Doug Brazy seen examining the Beech A36 on the scene of the crash in Massachusetts
In addition to Dr Kalister, authorities have tentatively identified those killed as his wife Betty and their teenage daughter Nicole.
Brazy said the plane was about 15 miles from the Norwood Airport, where it was headed, and had a cruising speed of about 200 mph before it went down.
The plane wasn't equipped with a flight data recorder, which wasn't required, and investigators haven't found helpful data on the plane's instruments, according to Brazy.
Brazy said investigators found the plane's control cables were intact and the plane would be removed from the crash site Tuesday and taken to a facility in Delaware for further evaluation.
The engine will be examined at a lab operated by its manufacturer.
A photo of a Beechcraft plane similar to the one that crashed. The plane was headed for Norwood Airport
National Transportation Safety Board Air Safety investigator Brazy (left) and Plainville Fire Chief Justin Alexander (right) walked around the damaged home on Monday and took in all the destruction that was done
Four people in the home escaped unharmed after the top floor of their house was engulfed in flames
Nicole Kalister had been scheduled to attend a new-student orientation at Northeastern University in Boston, about 40 miles away from the crash site, this week.
Four people - Aaron Rice, his wife Carol McKenzie and their two sons - who lived in the house and their pets escaped unharmed.
State Fire Marshal Stephen Coan called their escape 'a miracle'.
Rice said his wife and two sons were upstairs when the plane hit, while he was on the ground floor.
'We heard a loud bang and saw a fireball come down the back of the house,' he said.
Part of the Beechcraft BE36 aircraft sat in the yard of the home after the deadly plane crash on Sunday
Aaron Rice (pictured) and his wife Carol McKenzie Rice (pictured), their two sons and pets escaped unhurt
Dr Kalister was the emergency room director at Starr Regional Medical Center's Athens campus in Tennessee.
Starr Regional released a statement about the deaths on Monday.
It read: ''The members of the Starr Regional Medical Center family are deeply saddened by the tragic deaths of Dr Rick Kalister, his wife and daughter.
'He was an excellent doctor, an outstanding ER medical director and a respected, beloved member of our hospital team for the past 13 years.
'Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with the Kalister family during this very difficult time.'
Town Girls Scouts are holding a fundraiser to help the Rice family and a GoFundMe page was made for them
Girls Scouts in town are holding a fundraiser to help the Rice family and a GoFundMe page has been created to assist them in their time of need, Wicked Local reported.
'On Sunday, June 28th - there was a blast that sounded quite familiar to those that live near High Street in Plainville; it sounded like a quarry blast', according to a neighbor who set up the page.
'It took only seconds to realize that it was worth a look outside.
'You don't expect to see a home on fire, much less a fire moving as fast as it had from the attic to second floor - parts of the home falling off and with every flame getting higher and higher, ashes blowing all around the neighborhood - you heard nothing put popping.
'And the Rice family could do nothing, but watch and listen to the awful sound of their home turning to ashes.'
Several area fire departments worked together and the inferno was extinguished after about three hours
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