AKRON -- Investigators will be looking at the weather as a possible contributor to Tuesday's plane crash in Akron.
An area of low pressure was moving through northeast Ohio on Tuesday. During the time of the crash, the storm was pulling away from our region. A cold flow behind the low caused clouds, drizzle and mist around Akron.
The Akron Fulton Airport features an automated instrument that sends out automatic, computer generated, current weather reports. The instrument sent out two reports around the time of the crash. The first report at 2:56 p.m. showed cloudy skies with mist and low clouds. The clouds were just 400 feet off the ground with visibility at 1.5 miles. The second report came just nine minutes later at 3:05 p.m. That report showed rain and clouds. The clouds were just 600 feet off the ground and visibility had diminished to 1.25 miles.
PHOTOS | Deadly Akron plane crash
Winds were west-southwest during the time of the crash. Airplanes take-off and land into the wind so the pilot was instructed to land to the southwest on runway 25.
Such low cloud ceilings and rain/mist in the area required the pilots to make the approach using their instruments only. This is typical procedure during poor weather and visibility when ground markers, and even the runway, may not be visible to the pilot until just prior to touchdown.
Nobody survived the crash, which made impact with a small apartment complex on Mogadore Road.
