ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. – The National Transportation Safety Board has released a preliminary report on the Dale Earnhardt Jr. plane crash.
Earnhardt, his wife Amy and their daughter Isla suffered minor injuries in the Aug. 15 crash at Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Elizabethton, Tennessee.
Two pilots on board were not injured.
According to the report, the plane bounced twice as it attempted to land and crashed down on its third contact with the runway.
The plane's pilots tried to abort the landing and take off again after the second bounce but "the airplane did not respond as expected, so they landed straight-ahead on the runway and could not stop the airplane prior to the excursion," the report said.
On the plane's third contact with the runway, the right main landing gear collapsed and part of the right wing hit the ground.
"The airplane departed the paved surface beyond the runway 24 departure end threshold, through an open area of grass, down an embankment, through a chain-link fence, and up an embankment, coming to rest on the edge of Tennessee Highway 91," the report said.
"A postaccident fire was in progress during the evacuation."
The NTSB has not said what caused the plane to bounce upon trying to land.
Read the full report below:
