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NTSB releases details in Medford plane crash By Nick Morgan of the Mail Tribune Jul 02, 2019 06:13 PM A A The National Transportation Safety Board has added new details in the mechanical failure that caused an uninsured private plane to crash into a Medford neighborhood last month, and prompted the arrests of two Boise, Idaho, men on drug trafficking charges. On the afternoon of June 8, the 1947 Beech 35 that crashed into a tree in the 2300 block of Whittle Avenue had been having fuel pump problems in the air shortly after takeoff, according to a preliminary NTSB report about the crash released late last week. The plane took off from the Medford airport at 1:30 p.m. — about half an hour before the crash — when the plane started having engine trouble, passenger Zachary Wayne Moore told Hillsboro-based Flight Standards District Office investigators, according to the report. “During the return portion of the flight, the pilot had to hand pump the auxiliary (wobble) fuel pump to keep the engine running,” the NTSB report says. “The airplane descended onto a street in a residential neighborhood about 1 mile from runway 32, striking a tree, then came to a rest upright against the tree.” Investigators took the aircraft wreckage, which sustained substantial damage to its wings and fuselage, to a secure location for further examination, the report says. The pilot, Mathew William Thompson, had a valid private pilot license at the time of the crash, according to NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson. The report says that no flight plan had been filed before the plane took off, but according to Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer, that’s not unusual. Kenitzer said in an email that the FAA does not require flight plans for private flights. According to a June 2018 article in Flying magazine , Beech 35 models, also known as Bonanzas, have main and auxiliary fuel tanks, but a fuel gauge that only monitors one tank — able to be set by the pilot. According to earlier news reports, Thompson had put a down payment on the aircraft from the plane’s disputed owner, Lamon Loucks. Loucks received the plane as collateral after Idaho builder Nathan Ward Pyles defaulted on an $80,000 loan. Loucks’ lawyer has said in previous news reports that his client is cooperating with federal authorities, including the Department of Homeland Security, and had reported the plane stolen to police in Caldwell, Idaho, where the plane had been stored. The crash prompted felony drug charges in Jackson County Circuit Court for Thompson and Moore. Both men have been released on their own recognizance, and are each slated to make court appearances later this month on charges of unlawfully importing or exporting a marijuana item, unlawfully delivering a marijuana item, unlawfully possessing marijuana and recklessly endangering another person. Moore faces an added charge of unlawfully possessing LSD . Reach reporter Nick Morgan at 541-776-4471 or [email protected] . Follow him on Twitter @ MTCrimeBeat . Crews respond to a plane that crashed into a tree on Whittle Road June 8 in Medford.{ } Mail Tribune file photo by Andy Atkinson.