An initial investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board shows no mechanical failures happened before the June plane crash that killed two Acadiana men in St. Landry Parish.

The June 12 crash took the lives of Kirk Bellard, 49, and Marcus D. Guidry, 38, both of Breaux Bridge, according to St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz. The plane crashed on Spillway Road north of Henderson near the St. Landry-St. Martin parish line.

The initial investigation report from the NTSB said the crash happened around 10:50 a.m. after the Quicksilver Sport 2S light sport plane flown by Bellard struck the tree line about 50-feet from the crash site.

The plane was heavily damaged in the crash and debris was embedded in the cockpit and right wing from striking the tree line, the report said.

Before the plane went down, a GPS device tracked the plane’s takeoff from a private airstrip about a mile southwest of Cecilia around 10:32 a.m. The duo flew over downtown Cecilia the headed north where they had a touch-and-go landing at the Juneau Landing Strip southeast of Arnaudville, the report said.

Bellard and Guidry then departed again, and the final GPS reading placed the plane about half a mile south of the accident site at 10:49 a.m. At that point, the plane was descending and decelerating.

There were no eyewitnesses to the plane’s final moments and eventual crash, the report said.

NTSB investigators found no evidence of oil leaks, cylinder fractures, sparkplug issues or other mechanical failures before the crash. The aviation station at Lafayette Regional Airport, about 17 miles southwest of the crash site, recorded a calm wind, clear skies and good visibility at the time of the crash.

“The post-accident examination revealed no evidence of a mechanical malfunction or failure that would have precluded normal operation of the airplane,” the report said.

The ultralight plane had a ballistic recovery parachute that wasn’t deployed before the crash, the report said. The parachute activation handle was still stowed, and the safety pin was installed. A ballistic recovery parachute is used to lower a light aircraft to the ground when there’s aircraft failure, loss of control or other in-flight emergencies.

The report said Bellard had the necessary sport pilot certificate to fly the plane and had no record of previous accidents, incidents or violation enforcements. Guidry, the passenger, had an expired student pilot certificate that lapsed in October 2012.

The plane’s Federal Aviation Administration registration expired in 2015. There weren’t airplane maintenance records on the plane and the plane didn’t have a current condition inspection, the report said.

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