AUBURNDALE, Fla. — The National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report Wednesday on a plane crash that killed a Polk County husband and wife in December.
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The single-engine amphibious airplane crashed into Lake Arietta in Auburndale just before 12:30 p.m. on Friday, December 17.
The pilot, 70-year-old John Schmalz III, and his wife, 62-year-old Lynann Kurr, both died.
According to the NTSB report released Wednesday, the plane took off from Lake Hartridge in Winter Haven at 11:30 a.m. and flew for less than an hour before witnesses reported seeing the it flying at a low altitude over Lake Arietta while seemingly having engine trouble.
One witness described hearing a “sputtering” noise. Another said the plane appeared to be “struggling to develop full power.”
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The plane went into the lake nose-first and burst into flames on the water.
During the recovery of the wreckage, the NTSB report says bird feathers were found “wrapped around the fuel filler cap on the inside of the damaged and breached right wing fuel tank.”
The feathers were later identified as those of a turkey vulture, according to the NTSB. The report also notes that a turkey vulture carcass was found floating on the lake’s surface near the wreckage debris field.
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However, the report stops short of naming a definitive cause of the crash.
The NTSB’s investigation is ongoing. Information included in a preliminary report could change before the final report is released.
Read the NTSB’s full preliminary report on the crash below:
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