LAKE TAHOE, CA – A tragic air accident claimed the lives of two individuals on Saturday, when a single-engine turboprop aircraft crashed in the vicinity of Lake Tahoe, located in western California. The plane, a Daher TBM 700 model, had departed from Centennial Airport in south Denver at 4:22 p.m. Mountain Time, with its destination being Truckee Tahoe Airport, a journey of approximately three hours and 16 minutes.
According to information shared on social media by the Truckee police and fire departments, the plane made contact with the ground north of the airport. There have been no reported injuries to individuals outside of the aircraft. The plane, constructed by French aircraft manufacturer Daher, formerly known as Socata, was built in 2022 as per Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) records.
The identities of the two passengers on board have not been officially confirmed. However, the plane was registered to Nevada-based company, Avram Enterprises. Online records indicate that Liron Petrushka, a former professional soccer player in Israel and a tech entrepreneur in the U.S., is one of two agents for the company.
A Sunday report by the Times of Israel named Liron Petrushka and his wife, Naomi, as the victims of the crash. Einav Hazenvald, chairman of Petrushka’s former soccer team, paid tribute to the couple in a public statement.
Preliminary crash information from the Aviation Safety Network indicates that the plane missed its approach to a northeast-to-southwest runway at the airport, attempted a 180-degree turn over the airport and climbed in altitude for another landing attempt. Shortly after, the plane began a “left-hand stalling spiral into the crash location.”
The National Transportation and Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration initiated an investigation into the crash on Sunday morning. The official cause of crashes typically takes several months to determine as investigators collect wreckage and reconstruct the aircraft. The plane’s final resting place was a subdivision located between a set of railroad tracks and the Truckee River.
The plane had previously flown from Truckee, California to Colorado’s Centennial Airport on March 27, and had made trips between Truckee and San Carlos, Camarillo, and Portland since March 19.