CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) -- The National Transportation Safety Board has concluded that a plane that struck and killed a Georgia man jogging on a South Carolina beach last year lost power because of a damaged crankshaft.
The NTSB also found the crankshaft failed due to an earlier, undocumented propeller strike.
Pharmaceutical salesman Robert Gary Jones of Woodstock, Ga., was listening to his iPod and jogging on the Hilton Head Island beach, when the plane hit him as it tried to make an emergency landing on March 15, 2010.
The report says the pilot noticed the instrument panel vibrating and oil began to cover the windshield while flying at 13,000 feet. Then there was a loud bang.
The report, released late last month, found that engine records did not show a previous propeller strike.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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