OXFORD, Miss. — A witness heard no unusual sounds from the engine of a small airplane just before the plane crashed onto a golf course this month in northern Mississippi.
That’s according to a preliminary report issued Wednesday by the National Transportation Safety Board. The 18-year-old pilot, Lake Little of Starkville, died of injuries from the July 6 crash in Oxford.
A fixed-base operator at University-Oxford Airport told investigators that Little sounded “panicked” and didn’t finish her sentences as she said she intended to land on a runway. A witness saw the plane approach as a tailwind blew. The plane climbed at a steep angle before it went down.
Little was flying a Cessna 172 registered to the Mississippi Civil Air Patrol. She received a student pilot certificate in August 2017.