Pilot in deadly Maryland plane crash tried to make landing at Bowie airport moments before

BOWIE, Md. (7News) — The pilot of a small airplane told air traffic controllers he wanted to land at an area airport moments before the aircraft crashed in a Bowie neighborhood in late June, killing all three on board, a new report by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found.

A preliminary report into the June 20 crash of the Piper PA-28-181 released Tuesday also noted the plane made three touch-and-go landings at an Ocean City, New Jersey airport before making a return flight to Montgomery County Airpark (GAI) at around 10:10 p.m.

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The report did not say what caused those initial touch-and-go landings, and no further details were given on the cause of the crash. The flight was conducted as a personal general aviation flight, according to the NTSB.

Officials said the pilot, identified as 26-year-old Yoav Bomrind, transmitted a partially unintelligible radio call telling controllers he was near Fort Meade and that he wanted to land at Freeway Airport in Bowie. In the final transmitted message, Bomrind told air traffic controllers that he did not have the airport in sight after receiving radar vectors for the Bowie airport.

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Maryland State Police said at around 11:30 p.m. on June 20, the plane crashed into a wooded portion of Archer Park, roughly five miles from Freeway Aviation. Three people were on board the plane, including Bomrind and two passengers, David Rabinovitz, 19, and Elad Naidik, 20.

The plane was tied to the Washington International Flight Academy, which operates out of GAI in Gaithersburg. Freeway Aviation, which operates its own private runway, sits nearly 40 miles southeast of GAI according to map data.

According to the NTSB, the flight left GAI at around 4:30 p.m. and arrived at the Ocean City Municipal Airport at around 5:41 p.m. The trio took off from the airport at 9:30 p.m. for GAI but made three tough-and-go landings before a final landing at 9:44 p.m.

Finally, the plane took off at 10:10 p.m. to return to GAI. Forty miles into the flight, the plane dropped from its cruising altitude of 8,500 feet to 2,000 feet, where it remained moments before the crash, according to the NTSB.

At the accident site, officials found that both wings of the plane were separated from the fuselage and had damage on the leading edge.