Pilot Action, Icing Led to 2011 NJ Plane Crash

Investigators say a pilot's inability to fly quickly enough out of icing conditions led to a small plane crash on a New Jersey highway that killed all five people on board.

The National Transportation Safety Board released its final report on the December 2011 accident Thursday.

The plane was heading from Teterboro Airport to Georgia when it spiraled out of control and crashed on a wooded median. All five people aboard, including two investment bankers, were killed. No one on the ground was injured.

The report concluded that while pilot Jeffrey Buckalew had asked air traffic controllers to fly higher and out of the icing conditions, he may have been reluctant to exercise his own authority to do so, or may have been unaware of the severity of the conditions.

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