Pilot's Decision To Fly With Dog Caused Fatal Crash: NTSB

A plane crash that killed a 90-year-old man in Iowa was likely caused by the pilot's decision to fly with his dog, federal investigators have concluded.

The pilot, identified as 90-year-old Jerry Naylor, was killed after the two-seat plane crashed into a cornfield near Monticello Regional Airport in July 2017.

In a report issued almost two years after the fatal crash, the National Transportation Safety Board said that Naylor's dog likely came in contact with the flight controls during landing, which made Naylor lose control of the airplane.

Naylor's son, who is quoted in the report, said that his father routinely flew with his dog, who weighed between 70 and 75 pounds. The son told investigators his father had installed a removable, plywood device to prevent the dog from inadvertently contacting the rudder pedals on the plane.

The report said that while the device was not approved to be installed in the plane, there's no evidence that it interfered with the control stick or the rudder pedals.

After the crash, investigators found no evidence of mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have prevented the plane from operating normally, the report says.

"All the airplane's major structural components and flight controls were account for at the accident site," the report says.

The dog survived the crash and was seen running out of the cornfield after the crash, the report says. The dog was treated for minor injuries.

Naylor's cause of death was multiple blunt-force injuries, according to an autopsy. The autopsy results were negative for alcohol and drugs.