Federal investigators say a small plane that crashed in Georgia last month, killing four people, took off without a fuel cap.
A preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board says the plane’s pilot and a mechanic told a parachute rigger they planned to use “fuel cell tape” to cover an open fuel port.
Four people died when the plane operated by a skydiving service crashed Aug. 25 near Swainsboro in eastern Georgia. The dead included Army Staff Sgt. Aliaksandr Bahrytsevich, a member of the military parachute team the Golden Knights.
The Augusta Chronicle reports the NTSB’s preliminary findings say the parachute rigger saw the plane take off with a group of skydivers after he reported the fuel cap missing. It landed and took off with another group before crashing.
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Information from: The Augusta Chronicle , http://www.augustachronicle.com
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