HOT SPRINGS -- The pilot of a Cessna 177 Cardinal that crashed into Lake Hamilton and sank Monday morning radioed that the plane had "an engine issue," according to a media relations officer with the National Transportation Safety Board.
The crash killed the pilot, Daniel Dale Jones, 49, and injured his daughter, Denise Jones, 23, who was his sole passenger. Both were from Kentucky.
The flight originated in De Queen, the NTSB said.
"The pilot reported an engine issue in a radio transmission en route to the Hot Springs Airport," Peter C. Knudson, who is the public affairs officer regarding aviation safety with the NTSB, said in an email Wednesday.
NTSB investigators were examining the wreckage Wednesday, which was extracted from the lake Tuesday morning, but a preliminary report on the crash "is expected in 2-3 weeks," Knudson said. Investigations into fatal aircraft accidents are usually completed in 12 to 24 months, he said.
The wreckage was floated from near 161 Port-Au-Prince St. to a private boat ramp in the 1200 block of Lakeshore Drive, an operation that involved multiple emergency agencies and a private contractor. Port-Au-Prince is located just west of Hot Springs Memorial Field across Lakeshore Drive.
The Lake Hamilton Fire Department said in a Facebook post that it had "spent almost 20 hours assisting local, state, and federal agencies as well as a private contractor with the emergency response and clean up of a small airplane crash."
Divers with the fire department's Special Operations Division "assisted in locating possible lost items and property that may have fallen out of the aircraft at the time of the accident."
The Garland County sheriff's office is still requesting video and audio recordings from residents who live near where the plane crashed.
"Anyone ... that has any type of external surveillance cameras, RING Door Bell cameras or audio recorders that may have caught the crash are asked to contact Sgt. (Clayton) Green with the Garland County Criminal Investigations Division at 501-622-3675," a release from the sheriff's office said Tuesday afternoon.
Deputy Courtney Kizer said there had been little response to the request as of Wednesday afternoon.