The National Transportation Safety Board has released its preliminary report on the June 7 Arvada plane crash that injured three and took the life of a prominent Parker woman.

According to the report, the low-wing Beech Beech V35 aircraft departed Centennial Airport (APA) at 9:14 a.m. with four souls on board, landed on a roadway with its gear up after the pilot reported oil pressure issues and requested to land at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport (BJC) in Broomfield.

The aircraft was destined for the Northern Colorado Regional Airport (FNL) in Fort Collins.

Before the pilot could reach RMMA, he was forced to make an emergency landing in an Arvada neighborhood.

Witnesses interviewed by the NTSB said the aircraft was flying low and that the engine did not sound right and that they saw white smoke coming from the cockpit. 

NTSB officials said examination of the accident site showed the airplane’s left wingtip impacted a 30-ft tall tree adjacent to the roadway and parts of the left wingtip were found in the vicinity.

“Evidence at the accident site showed that the airplane contacted the roadway, gear up, and slid down the road until it collided with a parked vehicle and came to rest upright in the front yard of a private residence,” according to the report. “Ground scars on the roadway were consistent with contact and scraping from the bottom of the fuselage.”

The aircraft traveled about 400 feet along the roadways after initial impact.

Most of the aircraft’s structure and cockpit instruments were destroyed in the post-crash fire. The engine and what remained of the airframe were transported to a secure facility for further examination.

The pilot of the aircraft sustained serious injuries. Of the three passengers, two sustained serious injuries and the third, Melissa Brinkmann, died later in a local hospital. 

Brinkman’s LinkedIn profile  lists her as a managing director and account executive for global firm Accenture and she was a former captain in the United States Air Force.

The FAA databases show the aircraft registered to Whiskey Romeo LLC, and Tom Searles Sawyer of Tinmath, Colorado who holds a current private pilot’s license with authorization for single-engine aircraft only.

This is the first in a series of reports the NTSB will issue surrounding this incident. A preliminary report provides a synopsis of factual information collected during the on-scene phase of the investigation and is typically available to the public within a few weeks of the accident.