Plane crash that killed Auburn mayor happened 1 minute after takeoff, NTSB report says

May 14--The plane crash that resulted in the death of Auburn Mayor Bill Kirby last month happened less than a minute after takeoff and may have been caused by engine failure, according to the preliminary accident report by the National Transportation Safety Board.

Kirby died and one passenger was injured the morning of April 18, when his Cessna T206 crashed near Auburn Municipal Airport shortly after 10:30 a.m. Kirby's family and city officials confirmed the victim's identity the day of the crash.

The NTSB report also revealed that Kirby planned to fly a different plane that he also owned, but he "noted discrepancies during the preflight and opted to fly the accident airplane," the surviving passenger reported to authorities.

"The passenger stated that shortly after takeoff, during the initial climb, the engine lost power," reads the report, which was released Tuesday. "The pilot attempted to execute an emergency landing, but lost control and the airplane impacted terrain. The passenger reported that there were no warning lights or alerts in the cockpit prior to impact."

The report says the entire flight lasted less than one minute and suggests the plane only gained about 155 feet of altitude.

Cal Fire officials on the day of the crash described the passengers' injuries as minor but requiring transport to a hospital. The NTSB report categorizes the passenger's injuries as "serious." The passenger, who has not been publicly identified, was "pilot rated," the report said.

The Cessna was destroyed, its wreckage transported "to a secure location for further examination,"

Kirby, 72, had been a licensed pilot since at least 2009, according to public records. A urologist and a city councilman since 2009, he was a father of two grown children and had been an Auburn resident for 30 years.

In the week preceding his death, Kirby gained notoriety for social media posts criticizing President Donald Trump's response to the coronavirus pandemic, also comparing Trump supporters to members of the Ku Klux Klan. Following public outrage and calls for his recall from the community, Kirby announced April 13 he would step down and be succeeded by Councilman Daniel Berlant the following week.

April's incident marked the fourth plane crash near the Auburn airport in less than a year. In January, a father and son were killed in a crash. Last May, two nonfatal crashes occurred near the airport.

Placer County Sheriff's Office spokesman Lt. Andrew Scott said in April the department's Critical Accident Investigation team responded to the crash and would coordinate virtually with investigators from the NTSB due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Sacramento Bee reporters Vincent Moleski and Sam Stanton contributed to this report.

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