A preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board says decreasing visibility may have been a factor in the fatal crash of a small plane last month in eastern Yavapai County.
A rancher found the wreckage in a rural area of the county on Dec. 13, five days after the crash occurred.
The NTSB report didn't identify the pilot, but Yavapai County Sheriff's Office identified the deceased pilot as Mingwei Du, a Chinese national living in Phoenix while attending college.
The NTSB report said Du bought the Mooney M20C single-engine plane four days before the crash.
The plane took off from Flagstaff’s Pulliam Airport destined for Deer Valley Airport near Phoenix when it went down and burst into flames southwest of Flower Pot, Arizona.
