The National Transportation Safety Board issued their preliminary report on the December 15th plane crash that took the life of Brownwood businessman Barton Harris and his friend Jerry Hoggatt of Pelham, Alabama.

The report states that the private plane owned by Harris crashed in a snow covered mountainous area north-northwest of Edwards, Colorado and caught fire sometime after impact.   The report also states that instrument meteorological conditions were present at the time due to bad weather which is sometimes referred to as blind flying.

Multiple agencies searched for the wreckage after the report of the crash, but where hampered by a snowstorm in the area.  A National Guard Helicopter spotted the wrecked plane on December 16th.

The full preliminary NTSB report is below.

On December 15, 2010, approximately 1600 mountain standard time, a Beech B-60, N571M, was substantially damaged when it impacted mountainous, snow covered terrain 5.5 miles north-northwest of Edwards, Colorado. A post impact fire ensued. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The personal flight was being conducted under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 on an instrument flight rules flight plan. The private pilot and his pilot rated passenger were fatally injured. The cross country flight departed Pueblo, Colorado, and was en route to Eagle County Regional Airport (KEGE), Eagle, Colorado.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the airplane was in radar contact and the pilot was in voice communications with Denver Air Route Traffic Control Center. The controller had cleared the flight for the LDA/DME Runway 25 approach into KEGE and instructed the pilot to change to the Eagle Tower frequency. The pilot did not establish voice communications with the Eagle Tower.

A preliminary review of the radar data, obtained from the FAA, illustrated the flight at 11,200 feet. The airplane was in a descent and turning to the left when radar contact was lost.

The wreckage of the airplane was located, from the air, by search and rescue teams on December 16, 2010. The mountainous terrain was characterized with a 20 to 30 degree slope, at an elevation of 10,600 feet mean sea level (msl), and was snow covered. The main wreckage consisted of both wings, the empennage, fuselage, and both engines.