A person on the ground saw the moments leading up to the single-engine, four-seat Piper Comanche aircraft that crashed east of Middlefield on June 30, killing the pilot and its two passengers.

The person reported that she saw the plane cross above the tree line into her property. Then the right wing dipped, while descending slightly. Then she saw the plane briefly return to level. But it then “made a sharp right turn, followed by a steep, nose down descent into a field.”

The plane crashed at 3:35 p.m. into a cow pasture 1 mile east of its destination, the Geauga County Airport. Eleven minutes earlier, the plane had departed from the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, according to the preliminary report released recently by the National Transportation Safety Board.

The crash killed the three people on board — Thomas A. Cunningham, 76, of Rome, Ohio; John W. Taipale, 71; and Alexander C. Taipale, 40, both of Geneva.

A review of preliminary air traffic control audio revealed that the airplane was receiving visual flight rules flight-following services from air traffic control. Shortly after the airplane established cruise flight, air-traffic control issued the pilot an advisory for an area of moderate weather four miles northwest of the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, extending about seven miles northwest, moving to the southeast.

The pilot received further instructions to deviate as necessary to avoid weather and subsequently responded to the controller that he could see through the precipitation, which appeared to be light, the report states.

About 9 miles east of the Geauga airport, air traffic control advised the pilot of the location of their destination airport. The pilot responded that he did not have the airport environment in sight and requested to cancel flight-following. Radar services were then terminated at 3:29, p.m., and the pilot was advised to set his transponder to 1200 and change to the advisory frequency. At 3:35 p.m., the airplane dropped off radar coverage. No further communication with the airplane was noted after this time, the report states.

The debris path was 50 feet long by 40 feet wide and was oriented on a northeast heading. All major components of the airplane were found within the debris path.

A final crash report will be issued later.

Anthony Trevena, executive director of the Western Reserve Port Authority, which oversees the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, released this statement shortly after the crash:

“We were heartbroken to learn that members of our extended (Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport) and Youngstown aviation family were victims in Saturday’s crash in Geauga County. Our deepest condolences go out to the Cunningham and Taipale families.”